Gerry Thornley examines the exceptional and inspiring careers of two legends

Their careers have been uncannily parallel. Both have become legends in their countries. Both have been bedevilled by injuries, neither has won nearly as much as is deserved, and only in the twilights of their careers have their leadership credentials been given full reign.

And by tomorrow night, either Keith Wood or Fabien Galthie will probably have played their last match. For them, this quarter-final is double or quits.

As men, too, they share a lot. They are highly intelligent, natural-born leaders. They are gregarious, with a keen sense of humour, but they can be grumpy too, and stubbornly principled with it. They are as demanding of themselves as they are of those around them.

Each has married his long-time girlfriend in recent years, Nicole and Coline, and each has fathered a baby boy, Alexander and Mathis.

Both have their post-playing careers mapped out and, not surprisingly, both holds the other in the highest esteem. They have actually become good friends, and one ventures the bond will grow stronger after they retire.

Each has long since focused on the 2003 Rugby World Cup as a natural finishing point, a last hurrah. They have had to put their bodies through the pain barrier, and they've had to scale down their club commitments, to get here.

And now that they are here, they'll be damned if it's all going to end tomorrow.

They share a ferocious will to win, and a clear picture of what is required to do so. Both believe, deep down, that they could be on the verge of something special, that either Ireland or France have the capacity to win this World Cup; probably more so than anyone else in their respective squads. For Wood, truly convincing those around him might be a tougher struggle than it is for Galthie.

But, for one, the career and the dream will end tomorrow. Galthie's description of this game, at face value, seems almost to echo Bob Shankly's famous refrain about football being more important than life or death, though in point in fact it is just a quintessentially French wording of what amounts to a win-or-bust, do-or-die game. "C'est un match à la vie, à la mort."

Each, understandably, has been reluctant to contemplate the end, or have the focus drawn too much on them, but both have been obliged to face a battery of questions and so have become, reluctantly, a little reflective and contemplative this week.

One-on-one interviews were impossible to grant, so at lunchtime on Wednesday in Melbourne at the Irish team hotel overlooking the River Yarra, Wood held court for small group interviews, and the next morning at the French base on Bondi Beach, south of Sydney's Pacific coastline, Galthie did likewise.

Neither is like Joost van der Westhuizen, who smilingly if insistently maintains that the Springboks' quarter-final against the All Blacks would be his third-last match.

But as the French captain has already declared this will be his last tournament, whereas Wood is only 99 per cent sure, of the two Galthie is thus more inclined to admit he has contemplated this being his last game.

Wood maintains he would never allow such thoughts enter his head. "I don't have to think that way. I can think that way after the last game I play. I don't have to have the emotional attachment that makes a nice soundbite for journos, really.

"It's not my view. My view is to play the game, and come what may afterwards, be it next week, the week after next week, or the week after that. The decision will only happen weeks after the World Cup anyway."

Wood is marginally the younger, at 31, to Galthie's 34, and is competing in his third World Cup as opposed to Galthie's fourth, yet each has only recently passed a half-century of caps, and only under Eddie O'Sullivan and Bernard Laporte have they encountered coaches who have given them almost carte blanche as captains.

Close observers have told of how the bond between each of the two coach-player relationships has grown stronger by the day during this World Cup. The comparisons with an equally driven and demanding team leader such as Roy Keane are unavoidable, particularly in the context of his relationship

as Alex Ferguson's chief enforcer.

As he nears the end of his career, the thought occurred more than ever that Wood was simply born to play rugby. What else could have accommodated such an intense competitive spirit, such an avidly active mind and both his need and desire to compete in such a physical sport with heart and body? What other outlet could have provided him with all of that?

Of course, it was in his blood, being the son of former Irish and Lions international Gordon Wood. Ever since he broke through as a tearaway teenage hooker at Garryowen, and subsequently into the Munster team, it was always a question of when, rather than if, he played for Ireland. It was his destiny really.

But having made his debut on tour to Australia in 1994, a troublesome shoulder injury which required one of nine operations throughout his career limited his 1995 World Cup to just seven minutes against Japan, and his 1999 campaign would, of course, end in that painful defeat in that unmentionable place against those unmentionable opponents.

In one significant difference between the two men, Wood had become captain for the first time against Australia in November 1996. But it would be the first of two spells, and this one would entail nine defeats out of nine. It was a tough time for Wood, even if he never let it be known.

It was a non-vintage era back in the days when Ireland's limited stock of players were flying the coop and the IRFU had still to fund the provinces. With his typical indestructible will, he carried a huge weight on his shoulders.

Consolation and recognition of his greatness would come by way of the Lions' series win in South Africa in 1997, but he suffered for it physically.

Playing for Ireland has always meant the most to him, and he was playing with injuries, never more so than during a phenomenal, two-try performance against the All Blacks in November 1997 before his body caved in at the half-way point and Ireland were subsequently thrashed 63-15.

He had landed himself in hot water before that game for merely being truthful when he gave Ireland no realistic chance of winning the game.

In hindsight, it was no bad thing that he was later relieved of the captaincy for a while. It had been too much, too soon.

However, even when he was restored to the captaincy after the 1999 World Cup, Warren Gatland and Donal Lenihan thought best to keep the reins on.

All that changed when Eddie O'Sullivan took over for the 2002 Six Nations.

Wood's professionalism, demanding nature and high standards were let loose. The tour to New Zealand was a turning point, when a new lineout, new defence, new standards of training were set in place.

Ronan O'Gara told me this week of how Wood had exactly the same effect on Munster when he made a prodigal return for the 1999-2000 season which culminated in that extraordinary odyssey to a losing European Cup final.

"He simply set new standards of professionalism," said O'Gara, who also revealed that it was Wood, in a private conversation, who advised him he had to face up to his goal-kicking problem at the time and rectify it.

That Ireland learned to live and win without their leader and talisman for most of last seasons' record-breaking run of 10 wins was perhaps no harm. It hurt Wood even more than the leaking disc in his neck to miss out, but all of this was put in perspective by the loss of his brother and mother, as well as his becoming a dad.

It put rugby in perspective, if it didn't weaken his resolve to come back. He has admitted that on this tour he has thought of them both a lot, the times when he might have rung them for a chat. Having Nicola and Alexander out here has helped him enormously.

His days off are simply spent with them. Save for an attempt at surfing, at which, by all accounts, he wasn't very accomplished, it's no wonder that Wood has used his rest andrecuperation time for just that.

His hands-on influence has even grown, if that was possible, during this tour. Aside from his workload, he is constantly having one-on-ones with players. Putting his arm around them, talking to them quietly.

Both Wood and Galthie have candidly admitted to the magnitude of their role and their sense of responsibility this week.

"I think I need to make certain that we have a belief to go out and win the game," said Wood. "If for one minute some of the players don't think we're going to win, I think it becomes quite a struggle. Do you want to wait another four years, and complain after the game by saying 'if only'? Now there can't be an 'if only', and that's my job."

Galthie has been even more of a prophet in his own land, and his four World Cups potmark a far more circuitous route to his role as the leader, the undisputed boss of the French team.

From a town called Lot, near Cahors in south west France, where he still returns regularly to see his parents, Galthie broke into the Colomiers first division team when still a 17-year-old.

At 22, he made his Test debut against Romania in 1991, replacing Pierre Berbizier after England's famous Grand Slam win over France at Twickenham, and retained his place as first-choice scrumhalf in the World Cup after Berbizier fell out with Daniel Dubroca.

He had a good tournament, and the presumption was that les Bleus had a scrumhalf for the next 10 years, but it didn't pan out that way. A young, inexperienced half-back partnership with Alain Penaud struggled in a rebuilding era for the French team, and Berbizier, now coach, replaced him with Aubin Hueber.

Even though Galthie was back to his best, Berbizier initially chose Guy Accoceberry and Hueber for the 1995 World Cup. But Accoceberry broke his arm in the pool stages against Scotland. Then Hueber played so badly in the quarter-finals against Ireland that Berbizier was obliged to select Galthie (who was playing for Nick Mallet at False Bay) for France's unlucky defeat to South Africa in a rain-sodden semi-final, when he played with a broken wrist.

Consolation came by way of the third-place win over England.

Under Jean-Claude Skrela, who had a blind spot for Philippe Carbonneau, Galthie was soon out in the cold again. When Galthie could be ignored no longer and was recalled for the game against Ireland in Lansdowne Road, he suffered badly damaged knee ligaments, and further injuries delayed his return.

On the suicidal tour to Tonga, Samoa and New Zealand before the 1999 World Cup, Galthie was the only player to express the players' true views on the approach of Skrela and Pierre Villepreux, telling them that they were overlooking the basics in the pursuit of a dream game.

And so Pierre Mignoni played instead in the 54-7 defeat to New Zealand.

Scandalously, they then picked Mignoni and Thomas Castaignede for the World Cup. Galthie had again been left out.

But Mignoni was abysmal as France played poorly in winning an undistinguished pool on home soil, during which he suffered a thigh strain.

Word had it that the French management pressurised Mignoni to withdraw, in responding to the clamour for Galthie's call-up.

When Galthie replaced Castaignede for the last 20 minutes against Fiji in Toulouse, the stadium erupted, chanting his name, and he again rode to the rescue for the knock-out stages.

Only this time he again stayed true to his principles, and informed Skrela and Villepreux that he still believed what he had told them in Tonga. Galthie, in tandem with then captain Fabien Pelous, Raphael Ibanez and Christophe Lamaison, are believed to have taken over the show, formalising their own tactics, and France beat Argentina and stunned the All Blacks in "that" semi-final before losing another final to Australia.

Drawing comparisons between then and now, Galthie says: "We have lived together for four months and, of course, when you do this it is necessity to instal serenity in the group.

"I love feeling a collective force, and I talk with experience, because in 1999 it was a mess in the French group. Sometimes in 1999 the group was crazy, it was not under control any more, but it was in 1999, not now."

Laporte, an inferior scrumhalf in his playing days with Begles who had a bitter relationship with Galthie then, took over as coach. Nevertheless, the real emergence of Galthie as the de facto leader of the team came with his belated appointment as captain on the tour to South Africa in 2001.

Missing a host of established players, the French public had expected a thrashing. But, astonishingly, France won the first Test in Ellis Park, and though just beaten in a vicious second Test in Durban, they literally went down fighting.

It was Laporte's first tour and Galthie had been an incredible influence. The alliance was formed. Off the field, he and Laporte devise the tactics and gameplan, on it, he executes them.

As a scrumhalf he never had the quickest pass, and the searing breaks are more sparingly used, though still effective. But, curiously, he has become a far better defender and tackler in recent times, and can hound opposing scrumhalves to distraction.

All the while he had stayed loyal for 15 years to Colomiers, suffering a knee injury in the quarter-finals of the French championship in 2000 which obliged him, cruelly, to sit in the stands for their first and only appearance in a final when beaten by Stade Francais.

However, he joined Stade Francais for the last two years, though scaling down his club commitments to European games and occasional championship matches, with one eye on this tournament.

Unlike Wood, though, who had been denied a European Cup winner's medal at Twickenham in 2000, memorably and emotionally Galthie's club career concluded with Stade Francais' victory in the French Championship final over Toulouse last June.

He knows that soon his career will be over, and a lot of things will end with that. "I know that at the end of this game I may have to hang up my boots, but my desire is to play the game and stay here.

"Every time at training this week I've said to myself this could be my last physical session, or whatever, and this could be the last ball of my rugby life. I'm prepared for that, and I think it's making the game more stimulating for me.

"When you're conscious that it's one of your last games you give all you've got. What could be more terrible than saying 'oh, if only?' I don't want to leave with any negatives."

Galthie admits he has more determination now than he had in 1991, "but in general it was not so good before. It is better now. I've always done things with a will to progress. When you're a competitor and a champion you cannot say it was better before. I decided to stop my career now because I've got a feeling that it cannot be better.

"The sage is the one who knows his limits. I don't want to talk about the past because it is too emotional. There is no room for emotion. There is only room for hating the guy in front of me. I respect him before the game, during the game and after the game, but he, like me, knows it's him or me."

Even Wood could hardly have expressed it better. The Irish captain also adheres to the maxim that the older you get, the more you appreciate your playing days.

"I am, because I think we are in a good place. I think we're very well structured, I think we're in a good squad, and I think in a lot of ways it's gratifying to see how Ireland have moved on from when I started to where they are now. That's not in any way due to me, but we've good players, a good team, good management and it's a good place to be."

Wood soldiered through the bad days harder and with less return than anyone, including the dregs of two decades of continual hurt against the French, where hidings in Paris were just a biannual event.

"Why have we done well in the last few years? The real question is why we couldn't swing the hint of a performance together for a long period of time."

Yet mere mention of Galthie's name and his similar position draws a warm smile from Wood.

"A man I've a huge amount of time and respect for. Myself and Fabien have talked about setting up our own team of Almost Retirees. I get on very well with Fabien. We're good mates. I enjoy his company and he's a good man.

"I've always said it, I was very, very impressed with the way Laporte changed around France's play in the last three or four years, and a key component of that is Fabien. There's something excellent about seeing a guy get better with age. Over anybody else, I think he has played his best rugby in the last two years."

The next morning, Wood's sentiments are relayed to Galthie. The French captain actually hesitates a little embarrassingly, and there's even a hint of rouge in his face.

"I have already said he is a huge player and I have met him away from the field. We talked together. I cannot say that I truly know the man, but to my mind I think you play as you live.

"I think he might have a human dimension equivalent to the one has has as a player."

And then he concludes with perhaps the ultimate accolade from a French player to a foreign player.

"Wood, c'est un Monsieur." Someone with class.

For 80 minutes, for the last time, they will pretend to hate each other tomorrow. It is the game. And both men are playing for the moment more than at any stage in their career, perhaps because they know that there are only moments left.

As he's an Irishman, you'd like Wood to win tomorrow.

As men and rugby players, you'd somehow like both to win.

FOR CLUB AND COUNTRY: Tomorrow will be almost certainly the last time Keith Wood and Fabien Galthie cross swords

Fabien Galthie

Position: Scrumhalf

Club: Stade Francais

Date of birth: March 20th,

1969 (34)

Place of birth: Cahors

Status: Married, 1 son

International debut:

June 22nd, 1991 v

Romania

Last test: October 25th

2003 v Scotland

Caps: 62 (22 as captain)

Test points: 49

Tries: 10

Height: 5' 11"

Weight: 13st 2lb

Awards: IRB Player of the Year

Keith Wood

Position: hooker

Club: none

Date of birth: Jan 27th, 1972 (31)

Place of birth: Limerick

Status: Married to Nicola,

with one son Alexander

International debut: June 5th,

1994 v Australia

Last test: November 1st, 2003 v Australia

Caps: 57 (32 as captain)

Test points: 75

Test tries: 15

Height: 6'

Weight: 16st 10 lb

Awards: IRB Player of the Year