Saturday is sure to be an emotional day for Munster’s players, supporters and coaches.
The province have returned to Paris to play their Champions Cup against Racing Metro. The Pool 1 game of course was cancelled back in October after the sudden death of Munster head coach Anthony Foley.
Following his death, the province went on a six-game winning run that has contributed to them topping the PRO12 and sitting second behind Glasgow in their Champions Cup pool, with a game in hand.
The loss of ‘Axel’ has inspired a change of fortunes at the province and brought the players and supporters together once more, but Saturday promises to be the most emotional and raw moment for this group since Foley’s funeral and the home game with Glasgow that followed immediately afterwards.
Munster supporters will truly appreciate this https://t.co/XeswpSYnNy
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) January 6, 2017
Unsurprisingly the team have changed their itinerary, choosing not to stay at the hotel where Foley passed away.
Ahead of the clash with Ronan O’Gara’s Racing at the Stade Yves de Manoir, Munster’s director of rugby Rassie Erasmus described the events of that terrible October morning.
He was due to have his regular meeting with Foley ahead of a lineout session in the Novotel carpark. Normally the more punctual of the two, Foley’s absence led Erasmus to have someone call the legendary Number 8’s room. When there was no answer a member of staff went to his room and discovered his body.
“It was shocking, of course it was, horrible and unreal. The rest of the week was a bit of a blur but that day is still clear. Everyone will always remember those events,” the South African told reporters.
“It was an absolute shock, to your system, to your emotions, to your reality. Everyone was standing around that day. What do you do? Usually the routine is so familiar, you get the team together and off you go.
“That day, you didn’t know what to do. To talk or not to talk? Where do we go? Do you wait for the paramedics to arrive? Do you tell the captain? Do you tell the rest of the coaches? And then, instead of going to the ground, we are on a flight back to Ireland.”
