Keith Wood looks the archetypal rugby hooker -- bald, bulky and bent nosed.
But when Ireland's inspirational captain ends his playing career after this World Cup, he will leave a front row mold that is well and truly broken in.
With a style described by Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan as "reckless abandon," Wood scores tries -- including four in one match against the US at the 1999 World Cup -- passes and kicks the ball, and has even been spotted utilizing a sidestep.
A veteran of 56 tests, Wood has captained his country a record 34 times, this despite being sidelined for lengthy periods because injury. He had seven shoulder operations during 11 months on the sidelines last season, missing 12 international matches.
His injury woes, compounded with the birth of his first child, Alexander, and the deaths of both his older brother and mother in the past year, make for a less than ideal basis for a comeback preparation.
But Wood refused to let grief, joy or injury stand in the way of his dream of playing in the World Cup finals.
"My focus for the past two years, and even longer, has been to play in the World Cup finals for what would more than likely be my swansong," Wood told the Associated Press Thursday. "It was a promise I made to Eddie [O'Sullivan], so it was always there."
The son of former national and British and Irish Lions hooker Gordon Wood, Keith Wood made his test debut in 1994 on Ireland's tour of Australia, and was one of the stars of the 1998 Lions' victorious series over South Africa.
In 2001, he was named international player of the year and scored the match-winning try that stopped England winning the Six Nations Grand Slam.
With a quarterfinal spot already secured, the 2003 Rugby World Cup seems the perfect milestone to punctuate the end of a memorable career.
"This is definitely my last World Cup, but I would imagine it will be the end of the road for me as well," Wood said. "I'm not 100 percent certain and I'd like to wait and see how the body feels, and how the mind is at the end of it."
Neck and shoulder injuries made him little more than a spectator as Ireland emerged as a serious force in world rugby last year, winning 15 from 17 tests and losing only one Six Nations match, to eventual champion England.
But while Wood said he was disappointed not to be playing, there was no bitterness at Ireland's success without him.
"I wanted to be out on the field, definitely. I wanted to be part of the victories, and for that there is a disappointment," he said. "But I wasn't jealous and I was thrilled to bits to see Ireland win.
"I've been involved in Irish rugby for an awful long time and all you ever want is for Ireland to win."
Wood is now hoping that the culture of winning will see his team through the World Cup finals stages.
"We want to get to the semifinals and then see where we go," he said. "I said a long way back we had a possibility of winning the World Cup. It wasn't a huge possibility and it wasn't a probability, but it was definitely attainable.
"And the odds on that have lessened somewhat, which is good."
One byproduct of the ongoing success of the Irish team is a swell of support for rugby in a country dominated by soccer and traditional Gaelic sports.
"Support is magnificent for rugby in Ireland," Wood said. "We do need to get more people playing and we need to try and bolster the club competition the level below inter-provincial, but support has grown fairly dramatically over the past four or five years. This has a lot to do with Ireland's recent successes."
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