Paul Stephen Wallace (born 30 December 1971) is a former Irish

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who played tight head

prop A prop, formally known as a (theatrical) property, is an object actors use on stage or screen during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...

for

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and the

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

. Wallace was once regarded as the world's best tight-head prop, and was known as a very effective scrummager, and a player with good ball skills. Wallace currently works for

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

as a rugby

pundit A pundit is a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area (typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport), usually through the mass media. The term pundit describes both women and men, altho ...

and is also a contributor to the ''

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'' and ''

Rugby World ''Rugby World'' is a monthly rugby union magazine running since October 1960. It is published monthly by Future plc and edited by Joe Robinson. Long-standing editor Paul Morgan left in January 2012. Morgan was long considered a leader in the in ...

'' magazine as well as

Today FM Today FM is an Irish commercial FM radio station, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio Ireland Limited. Broadcasting since 17 March 1997, it broadcasts mostly music, with a daily news and current affairs programme. Today FM holds a licen ...

's '' The Last Word''.

Rugby career

During his rugby playing career Wallace played with

UCC The initialism UCC may stand for: Law * Uniform civil code of India, referring to proposed Civil code in the legal system of India, which would apply equally to all irrespective of their religion * Uniform Commercial Code, a 1952 uniform act to ...

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

Blackrock College RFC Blackrock College Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club located in Blackrock, Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The club was founded in 1882 by former pupils of Blackrock College. Their senior team currently plays in 2024–25 All-Irela ...

, Leinster before moving to professional club,

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

whom he played with from 1996 to 2001 before returning to

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

in 2001. He played at international level with Ireland and the British Lions, representing Ireland at junior levels before making his full international debut against

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in the

1995 Rugby World Cup The 1995 Rugby World Cup (), was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in ...

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to play alongside his brother Richard. He went on to win 46 caps for Ireland between 1995 and 2002. His final match for Ireland was against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

in a world cup qualifier at

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium (, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for the Aviva Stadium on ...

in September 2002. Wallace was selected to tour South Africa with the 1997 British Lions. He became one of only five members of the tour who played the full duration of all three tests. He was a very influential player in the winning of the series, facing

Os du Randt Jacobus Petrus "Os" du Randt (born 8 September 1972) is a former South African rugby union loosehead prop who retired as the most-capped forward in the history of the Springboks (a record since surpassed by John Smit, Victor Matfield, Tendai ...

in the

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and was subsequently described by captain, Martin Johnson, as his "player of the series", with tour manager

Fran Cotton Francis Edward Cotton (born 3 January 1947) is a former rugby union prop forward who played for England and the British Lions. His clubs included Coventry R.F.C. and Sale. A "fearsome" prop, he was primarily a tighthead but also played to a h ...

regarding him as the cornerstone of the Lions scrum.

Retirement from rugby

In January 2001 he suffered a seriously broken ankle playing for

against

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

, which he recovered from. But further complications saw him retire in December 2003 after winning the

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organization, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places pa ...

with Leinster.

Representative honours

* Ireland Schools * Ireland U21, Captain * Ireland Students * Ireland Development, * Ireland A *

Post rugby career

Wallace is currently a pundit for

, giving expert opinion and analysis during their rugby union broadcasts. He also writes a Saturday column for the Irish Daily Mail and is a rugby panellist for the Last Word show on Today FM. Wallace is a judging panel member for the

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competit ...

Player of the Year Award. As well his media work, Paul is also a

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of Bircroft Property Finance (Ireland), an international

debt Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money Loan, borrowed or otherwise withheld from another party, the creditor. Debt may be owed by a sovereign state or country, local government, company, or an individual. Co ...

structuring firm for commercial property. He previously worked for International property company, Jones Lang La Salle, dealing in international commercial property sales and acquisitions.

Family

Wallace's younger brother

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

, previously played for Munster, won 72 caps playing for Ireland and toured on the

2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa The 2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa was an international rugby union tour which took place in South Africa from May to July 2009. The British & Irish Lions played a three-match Test series against South Africa, with matches in ...

but retired in 2012 due to a recurring knee injury. His older brother

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

played

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

for Ireland, and retired from international rugby in 1999 after earning 29 caps for Ireland and touring

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

with the 1993 Lions. All three Wallace brothers have made the

Guinness Book of Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

as the only three members of one family to play for the Lions. Wallace is married to Barbara Loftus. Loftus is senior producer to Matt Cooper on Today FM's drivetime programme, ''The Last Word''.

References

External links

Leinster profileLions profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wallace, Paul Living people 1971 births Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players Saracens F.C. players Leinster Rugby players University College Cork RFC players Blackrock College RFC players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Ireland Ireland Wolfhounds international rugby union players People educated at Crescent College Rugby union players from County Cork Rugby union props 1995 Rugby World Cup players 1999 Rugby World Cup players