David Wallace retiring

[isola ciarrai]

Todays Examiner, tribute from Rory Best, a class act:
the latest Munster retiree was also praised by Ulster captain and Ireland hooker Rory Best.

"We sorely missed him at the World Cup, on and off the field. Wherever you were going, you’d always give him a ring.

"When I first came into the Ireland squad, he was there at the heart and soul of it. Even a year ago, when you looked at him you thought he was going to go on forever. It just goes to show you’re only one big injury away from never playing again. At the end of the Six Nations, Wally was in flying form and probably one of Ireland’s best players.

"Playing against him, he was a nightmare from five metres out, once those big legs got going, you were in trouble. Playing against Rog, your big game plan is to try and pressure him but he’d dump it off to Wally and next thing you’re five metres behind the gain line because he was an absolute freak."

Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/r...#ixzz1tvrLW4kM

[stubyrne76]

Irish and Munster legend... big loss but best of luck to the lad!

[blackwarrior]

Yikes! The more I read this thread, and watch the highlights ..... what a magnificent player and what a huge loss. A back row we'll hardly ever see the likes of again. So glad to have seen Wally and Foley/Quinlan/Leamy in their prime.

Life goes on, but it isn't easy to accept sometimes. God bless, Wally.

[Hugged Rugger]

looking at all the tries over the last few days id love to know how many defensive coaches told players, "when you tackle this ****er, dont let go" - and did it make any difference

sale 09 highlights here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7gXg...eature=related

[bugler]

What Richard Hill had to say on twitter:

Sorry to hear David Wallace has had to retire.

Powerful, quick, and a pain in the backside over ball. Wish him well for the future.

[The Last Stand]

What Wally had to say:

@wa22y: Truly touched by all the messages and tweets. It made yesterday much easier for me and a bit harder in other ways. Thank you all.

[The Last Stand]

And Bod

@BrianODriscoll: Very sorry to see @wa22y hang up the boots today. Brilliant player & some laugh. Will be a big loss to M & Ire.Good luck with the next part

[supiebrian]

Todays Examiner, tribute from Rory Best, a class act:
the latest Munster retiree was also praised by Ulster captain and Ireland hooker Rory Best.

"We sorely missed him at the World Cup, on and off the field. Wherever you were going, you’d always give him a ring.

"When I first came into the Ireland squad, he was there at the heart and soul of it. Even a year ago, when you looked at him you thought he was going to go on forever. It just goes to show you’re only one big injury away from never playing again. At the end of the Six Nations, Wally was in flying form and probably one of Ireland’s best players.

"Playing against him, he was a nightmare from five metres out, once those big legs got going, you were in trouble. Playing against Rog, your big game plan is to try and pressure him but he’d dump it off to Wally and next thing you’re five metres behind the gain line because he was an absolute freak."

Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/r...#ixzz1tvrLW4kM

Very powerful stuff and as good a summation of what made Wally tic both on and off the field as you are going to get. Interesting references to the RWC and particularly how influential he was in the dressing room. It also goes to show that you don't need to be an abrasive, fire and brimstone type of character to have a real influence and ultimately be a leader of men.

Fair play to Rory Best also, very honest and a decent pro by the looks of it.

[girwin90]

http://talkingrugbyunion.co.uk/pro12/heres-to-wally - A really good article from Murray, a fantastic player and one of my personal favourite players. I hope he gets involved in coaching some day, seems to have the right characteristics for it!

[AGORDEIRE]

Munster and Ireland's best backrower of the professional era, potentially ever. For all the guff about him not being a 'natural 7' he was an integral part of every team he played for and made hugely telling contributions in every game either in attack or defence. Just like Foley and Quinlan he was an excellent reader of the game which is why he was nearly always on someobody's shoulder to keep the attack flowing.

Absolutely gutted for the guy. Great player and a great athlete. I'd say if he had been an All Black he'd have been internationally revered as one of the world's best forwards.

All the best David, thanks for the memories.

Very well said

[Kevy-Wevz]

http://talkingrugbyunion.co.uk/pro12/heres-to-wally - A really good article from Murray, a fantastic player and one of my personal favourite players. I hope he gets involved in coaching some day, seems to have the right characteristics for it!

That was a really good article!

Any chance he could replace Dire O'Brien later tonight?

[Drick]

http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/bu...tory-1-4434662


Limerick’s Wally opens his own Wonka factory

Sweet success! David Wallace in his new store, Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe in the Crescent Shopping Centre. (Picture: Michael Cowhey)

By Aine Fitzgerald
Published on Friday 2 November 2012 14:00

IT’S been dubbed “Wally Wonka’s” by Munster star Felix Jones and after just a week in business a new sweet shop opened by rugby legend, David Wallace, is going down a treat with the people of Limerick.
The former Munster and Ireland player who retired last May due to a persistent knee injury has tapped into his entrepreneurial side with the opening of Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe in the Crescent Shopping Centre.
“I was on Dame Street up in Dublin where there is a Mr Simms and I just enquired about it because it seemed very busy and is an excellent shop as well,” David explained.
“I was passed on to Terry Dunne who has the Irish rights to it - he owns the Irish franchise – and it went from there.”
And just like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, the shop - which is located opposite Shaws department store - is a wonderland full of tempting treats.
“We have the Macaroon bars, Refreshers, Frosties – all these sweets that people remember from their childhood,” David explained.
In a bid to get a feel for what the people of Limerick would like to see in the store, David has been utilising the online social networking site, Twitter, asking his 23,900 followers: “what’s your fav sweet/bar from your childhood?”
“It’s a great bit of market research,” he explained. “Even last night when I was tweeting about it, everyone was transported back to their childhood and that’s the whole beauty of it, there is comfort there and nostalgia.”
One Dublin-based Leinster supporter put in a request for Peggy’s Leg and tweeted that he would be willing to drive to Limerick for them!
Even David’s former Munster and Ireland team-mates have showed their support with Jerry Flannery, Felix Jones, Brian O’Driscoll, Rob Kearney and Jamie Heaslip all serving up plenty of online banter.
“It’s great that the lads are tweeting about it,” said David who runs the shop with his wife, Alieen.
“Hopefully, we will stock the Irish team – Rala the bagman has a store of sweets so I’ll have to touch base with him and sort him out. He has a bit of sweet tooth like myself and the lads pop into him for their little sugar fix,” he joked.
And is there any particular sweet from David’s own school-days that he is delighted to have in stock?
“Do you know what I went looking for today and I actually found them is the Sherbet Fountains with the liquorice stick. That really brought me back.”
His own children Andrew, 4, and Harvey, 2, have been in the shop a couple of times and are, their dad said, “very happy with the whole situation”.
As well as bringing a smile to the faces of children and indeed adults, the shop is also providing work for 10 Limerick people.
“There are seven full-time and three part-time which is great in this day and age, all local as well.”
David is also a director of Schools Direct - which supplies school uniforms - and has confirmed that they are now working on a joint venture with Elverys Sports.
“We will have our own Schools Direct shops in the Elverys stores in Limerick, Charleville, Tralee and Waterford,” he explained.

[Thomond78]

I met him in the Crescent last Friday, looking ver', ver' dapper.

When we were smallies (he a bit smallier than me, then), the shop in Monkstown used sell fizzy orange bottles. If he can get those for me, it's quids-in.

[Huwie]

http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/bu...tory-1-4434662



The former Munster and Ireland player who retired last May due to a persistent knee injury has tapped into his entrepreneurial side with the opening of Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe in the Crescent Shopping Centre.
“I was on Dame Street up in Dublin where there is a Mr Simms and I just enquired about it because it seemed very busy and is an excellent shop as well,” David explained.

If he had looked, there is one in the city centre on the bottom of Roches Street.
Another blow to the city centre.

[rathbaner]

He should have called the shop Pick & Go

[Mack the Knife]

Now called Mr Duffys me thinks Huwie. A speciality beer shop would be great. If I win the Euromillions tonight expect to see one soon along with a Tim Hortons and a Five Guys !

[Stringer9]

When I saw this topic pop up again, a little part of me hoped he had announced he was coming out of retirement and was actually 5 years younger than we first originally thought.
If only..

[Major TNT]

Looking at some of the clips on this thread reminds me how much i miss wally.

My dentist aint gona like it when I visit that new business of his.

[gavindillon]

He should have called the shop Pick & Go

Wheres Wally's Scrumptious Sweets. Scrumptious, geddit

[McCloud]

Wallace backs new generation to pick up baton
By Donnchadh Boyle
Tuesday November 06 2012




A LITTLE over a year on and the image is still fresh. Manu Tuilagi's hit that sent David Wallace's knee tilting unnaturally, sickeningly.


Wallace himself recalls the date his rugby career finished immediately. "It was August 27," he says.


The injury that ended his career still isn't right. He was a grizzled veteran of 35 when it happened, but it wouldn't have mattered if he was 22. Some of the various parts that hold a knee together were like soup. His career was over.


More than 12 months out of the game and Wallace still hulks over the table as he tells what he's done since that World Cup warm-up game at Twickenham. There is no self-pity. "I'm actually enjoying the life after rugby," he says, perhaps betraying a little surprise at just how well he has adapted to life away from professional sport.


He takes solace from a distinguished career that included 72 caps, a Grand Slam and a couple of Heineken Cups.


But with the 'Maldini Project' in place at Munster, which aims to prolong the careers of players, as they have successfully managed at AC Milan, Wallace felt like he could have gone on, and had his sights set on making the Lions Tour of Australia at the end of this season.


"I would have certainly targeted the Lions, and afterwards I don't know -- it would have depended how the body felt," he says.


"I felt last year -- just before I got injured -- fitter and faster than I ever had, and stronger too. So it was kind of gutting from that point of view to miss out on utilising all the hard work you put in on the world stage. But you get injuries. I didn't feel too bitter about it."


There was an aborted comeback in March of this year that didn't last beyond two games. And since then his exercise has been limited to some cycling. An attempt at boxing training caused the problem to flare up. He required an operation to clean the knee out and that confirmed to Wallace that he had made the right decision.


"I tried to get back and it didn't quite work out -- the knee felt very, very cranky when I tried running on it or tried to go through the rigours of being a professional athlete.


"There was no one thing that was particularly damaged, but it's how they all interact with each other that created a very cranky joint. I had a clean-up job in June and then I did some boxing fitness and it set it back until now, really. It was really cranky after that and obviously I shouldn't have done it, but it kind of just proved to me I made the right decision in retiring. It wasn't really a decision, to be fair."


Life for Wallace has been almost unrecognisable since. His latest venture, the 'Mr Simms' sweet shop in the Crescent Shopping Centre in Limerick, is taking off and he'd like to extend the franchise further down the line. Wallace was doing some analysis in the O2 in Dublin when Ireland beat Australia in the World Cup. There was a pang of regret but the occasion washed it away. "It was a bit like Italia 90," he says.


And he'll be watching as Ireland ponder a new-look back-row combination in the absence of Sean O'Brien and Stephen Ferris. Peter O'Mahony can play either flank while Kevin McLaughlin and Chris Henry are also options, and Wallace has complete faith in the new wave of Ireland players as the 'Golden Generation' slowly slip away.


Foundations


"I think certainly we have the capabilities and I think the foundations in Irish rugby are really strong in the professional game, and young guys can be brought through," he argues.


But given a choice, he'd still be out there, and would have been for a few years to come.


"Age was just a number to me, and I always went on how I felt and how my stats were, and if they were improving then I saw no need to retire as long as I still had the love of the game. Obviously family creeps into it, and how your body is coping with it, and that was all going well -- I'd love to have had another two, three or four years of it.


"We had the Maldini Project in Munster. There were guys who were wide receivers in the NFL who relied on speed, which was meant to be the first thing to go. And these lads were still signing multi-million dollar deals in their 40s.


"So I'd love to have tested (the Maldini Project) to the limits, but maybe sometimes it's better to be shoved rather than to decide yourself."


- Donnchadh Boyle


Irish Independent

[taz]

'Maldini Project' ...oh right.

[gavindillon]

I went to a Q&A session Bryce Cavanagh when he first arrived here and he was outlining his plans for this type of training. I'm not a sports scientist but he did seem to know exactly what he was talking about and had a very clear plan. His philosophy was training in such a way to allow senior players to continue playing at their peak for longer, not merely keeping them fit to drudge through matches. He noted that this was in no way an attempt to stymie younger talent coming through, but rather to allow proven international talents to continue performing at a high standard longer than would be normal. ROG constantly says in interviews over the past year that he feels as fit and physically prepared as ever. David Wallace and Donncha O'Callaghan support this.

The downside seems to be turning these robust athletes into such finely honed elite machines, like racehorses, that once they pick up a serious injury it takes ages for them to come back, or sometimes not at all. David Wallace's knee exploded and not many would come back from that. POC is constantly picking up injuries, so either he over-exerts himself (likely) or soemthing is amis with his physical preparation or recuperation time (also possible). I've never heard Jerry Flannery mention anything about the fitness regime, but I'd like to as he's a serious gym enthusiast who suffered anumber of setbacks also before calling it a day.

Like I said, I'm not a scientist/physio but I find the idea of the Maldini project very interesting and would love to have a chat with someone who could shed more light on its effectiveness in a rugby setting, where injuries are far more frequent than soccer but usually less severe.

[Thomond78]

I was very sceptical of the idea that the medical team weren't picking up on things, but open to the idea it was conditioning.

Have to say, the more I see this season, with the beginnings of more bulk on us, the more I think it was conditioning. The players were turned into greyhounds, but then asked to do even more static one-out hit-ups. That was only going to end one way.

As regards Wally - it happens. Tuilagi is no angel, but it was a fair tackle, and a horribly unlucky one. That can happen at 25, at 35, before or never (as Troy Smith). Sometimes, bad luck is just bad luck.

[Balla Boy]

I don't see any reason to be sceptical about the Maldini notion in principle. The notion that you manage conditioning, rest time etc with a view to longevity rather than maximum bang next week doesn't strike me as outlandish.

Of course, that doesn't mean that it was implemented effectively, or even that the balance was right.

I mean, in a sport where a career ending injury can happen almost every time you train, let alone play, how sensible is it to be planning and managing five years into the future?

We've lost Wally, Dowling, Murphy, Fla, Leamy, Halstead and Tipoki over the last few years to career ending injury, and come close (I'd imagine) with POC, Horan, Felix and probably others.

Even if that had nothing to do with conditioning or training, what does it tell us about the feasibility of a regime that plans around the open ended availability of senior players?

[Hugged Rugger]

It would appear hes getting cooking lessons from a Hobbit now....

[hellovating]

i miss wally.

there. i said it.