David Wallace To Join BNY Mellon IRUPA Hall Of Fame

David Wallace will join other Irish rugby greats such as Denis Hickie, John Hayes, Malcolm O’Kelly, Anthony Foley, David Humphreys and Keith Wood. For the first time, the 2015 Hall of Fame recipient was voted for by the past player members of the IRUPA Clubhouse from a shortlist generated by the IRUPA Executive Board.

With over 200 caps for Munster and 72 Test appearances for Ireland, David has made a huge contribution to rugby throughout his 15-year career. Born in Limerick and educated at Crescent Collage, he made his Munster debut against Connacht in August 1997.

His European debut came a year later and he played in all nine Munster games in the run to the 2000 Heineken Cup final, scoring the only try of the game in the province’s narrow defeat to Northampton.

2002 brought another final and another runners-up medal before Munster’s and Wallace’s first Heineken Cup final victory in 2006. He tasted Heineken Cup success again in 2008 when Munster beat Toulouse 16–13 in the decider in Cardiff. He became the sixth player to reach 200 caps for Munster against Leinster during the 2011 Magners League final, a game in which he won the man-of-the-match award.

He won his first senior Ireland cap against Argentina in June 2000. Injury hampered his early international career but his return from injury was marked with a try and victory over Scotland in 2004 to help secure the Triple Crown for Ireland.

A member of the squad for the 2006 Six Nations and the summer tour, he notched another try for Ireland in their 43–13 demolition of England in the 2007 Six Nations at Croke Park. He was selected for the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France where he started all four of Ireland’s pool games.

His international career continued apace as part of the Irish Grand Slam winning side in 2009 and he played in all five of Ireland’s 2010 Six Nations matches and was awarded man-of-the-match against Italy. He continued this form in the 2010 GUINNESS Series, playing against South Africa, New Zealand and Argentina, becoming Ireland’s most capped back rower.

Wallace played in all five of Ireland’s 2011 Six Nations fixtures, and was selected in Ireland’s final 30-man squad for the 2011 World Cup. However, a knee injury sustained during Ireland’s final warm-up game against England ruled him out of the tournament and ultimately brought down the curtain on his international career.

As a British & Irish Lion, David toured Australia with the 2001 squad, playing against NSW Country Districts and scoring a try against ACT Brumbies. On April 21, 2009, he was named in the Lions squad for the tour to South Africa. He started the first and second Tests and came on as a replacement for the third.
 
On hearing of his induction, David said: “It is a great honour to be inducted into the BNY Mellon IRUPA Hall of Fame and to sit alongside some of Ireland’s greatest rugby players.”
 
Omar Hassanein, CEO of IRUPA, commented: “David Wallace has always been an outstanding contributor to Irish rugby both on and off the field and thus a very worthy inductee into the BNY Mellon IRUPA Hall of Fame. He well and truly deserves to be sitting on this honour roll amongst other such distinguished names.”
 
BNY Mellon are also sponsors of the 2015 Women’s Sevens Player of the Year award which will be presented at the Hibernia College IRUPA Rugby Players Awards which take place at Dublin’s Double Tree by Hilton Hotel next Wednesday (May 13).
 
Information on the awards, including all categories, can be found on www.irupa.ie. For Awards updates, visit the @IRUPA Twitter page or use the hashtag #irupas2015.

IRUPA HALL OF FAME RECIPIENTS:

2003 – Peter Clohessy, Mick Galwey
2004 – Paddy Johns, Keith Wood
2005 – Eric Elwood
2006 – Jeremy Davidson
2007 – Victor Costello
2008 – David Humphreys
2009 – Anthony Foley
2010 – Girvan Dempsey
2011 – Malcolm O’Kelly
2012 – John Hayes
2013 – Denis Hickie
2014 – Simon Best
2015 – David Wallace