Wallace stands up to be counted

Stand up and Fight goes the Munster squad anthem, but for 10 crucial minutes in the second-half under the unforgiving Bordeaux sun while Mike Mullins was sinbinned it was more a case of Stand Up and Be Counted. And no-one did more than David Wallace. He became two rolled into one.

From the next set phase, a Munster lineout which Frankie Sheahan had bravely retrieved off the deck, Ronan O'Gara kicked long to Stephane Ougier. The full back countered, as was his wont, and first up to meet him was Wallace, not only snaffling him and stopping him but having the presence of mind to flick the ball out of Ougier's hands as well which Peter Stringer maximised with a box kick to touch into that vacant French corner.

Back came Toulouse again, launching Michel Marfaing up their left touchline whereupon he was bludgeoned into touch by a double hit from the covering Wallace and Anthony Horgan.

Back came Toulouse once more, still desperate to make their numerical difference count, and Ntamack stepped around Horgan and O'Gara in trademark fashion and cantered up their right touchline. Needless to say, Wallace covered across to pin him by his collars and hold him up for the Munster pack, Eddie Halvey staying on his feet to procure more vital turnover ball.

After O'Gara had landed a penalty, Lee Stensness was freed up the Toulouse left and there was Wallace again, covering the centre's inside pass and guiding him up the touchline before unceremoniously bundling him over it to effectively earn another turnover.

That was just that 10-minute cameo. There was lots more besides. Take, for example, the 35th minute restart by O'Gara after Marfaing had landed a third penalty from four attempts in a row to turnaround an 8-3 deficit into a 12-8 lead, at a time when Munster hadn't been a threat for the best part of 20-odd minutes. They needed a pick-me-up, and there was Wallace chasing the hanging restart up the middle, rising salmon-like and deflecting back for O'Gara to gain vital field position; a Munster threepointer following soon after.

Coming in a week where Kieron Dawson had been sidelined from the forthcoming tour of the Americas, Wallace's allpurpose performance couldn't have been better timed.

Asked if anyone had caught his eye, and knowing full well the implications of the question regarding one David Wallace, Warren Gatland smiled and said: "David Wallace played outstandingly well today, now that Kieron Dawson's injured. David Wallace was the man of the match I thought, I thought he was very good."

When that was put to Wallace himself, the 23-year-old smiled, and diplomatically said a little sheepishly: "It's very nice when somebody of that stature says something like that about me, especially at the moment."

A fine all-round player and athlete, who can be ball-carrying number eight, or lineout option at six or an openside, after years of being shunted around the back row as a sort of jack of all trades the younger brother of internationals Paul and Richie has, predictably, benefited from a longrun in one specialised position.

"I think I was lucky in a way that I ended up in the centre and I got some space, and it's always easier hitting backs than forwards," said Wallace, laughing off his display in typically laidback fashion. "But yeah I was delighted to get a little bit of a chance, that the game opened up a bit for me."

Again playing down his own role, Wallace said: "Everybody's involved the whole time, not just me, it was a bit of a frantic game at times. They were really trying to run the ball from everywhere, you could see that. They're quite good at it too. We just about filled them out thanks be to God, and I think that's about team spirit as well."

Wallace added: "If you look at other teams we tend to play a little bit faster than other teams at times, and I think that really opens up gaps for us as well. We've a great backline, and Ronan O'Gara and the centres, Mike Mullins and Dutchy (Jason Holland), they're all good at bringing in other players and they're really used to playing this style of game and at this pace."

It was Wallace's first game since receiving 17 stitches in a wound just above his right eye in the Garryowen-Dungannon game two Saturdays previously. Nor was Saturday another scar free day. "I got another stitch today in the lip," he laughed, ne'er a hint of pain.

"And what about David Wallace?" ventured Keith Wood in the Munster dressing-room. "Man-of-the-match?" he asked again rhetorically. "By a mile."