Updated Tuesday, August 30th 10.32 am
MUNSTER HAVE NO indication yet how long back-row David Wallace will be sidelined because of the knee injury that ended his World Cup dream over the weekend.
The flanker suffered serious knee ligament damage when he was tackled by England centre Manu Tuilagi just 22 minutes into Ireland’s clash with England at the Aviva Stadium and had surgery to address the problem on Sunday morning, commenting “it’s all improvement from here on” on Twitter later in the day.
Former team-mate and ex-Ireland hooker Frankie Sheahan said on Monday that he had spoken to Wallace and reported that the operation “went well”. A spokesperson for Munster Rugby told The Score that the injury is still being assessed but he is expected to spend at least six months on the sidelines.
Supporters of the province will, however, be anxious to learn the 35-year-old’s fate considering the influence he has been for the Red Army over the last number of years.
Wallace will be “sorely missed” as the Irish squad heads for New Zealand, according to Geordan Murphy. The full-back missed out on the World Cup in Australia back in 2003 because of injury and was only included in Declan Kidney’s panel last week because of an injury suffered Munster 15 Felix Jones. The latter is also facing a “lengthy spell” on the sideline and will have his injury looked at by a specialist next week.
“I’ve been in that situation. It’s a very hard place to be – the worst time to get an injury is just before you go out to a World Cup,” Murphy insisted to reporters.
“It’s a huge, huge disappointment. If you miss out then there’s a dark cloud hanging over your head for quite a few weeks. David’s a fantastic player for us. We do have options in the back row, but David will be sorely missed.”