This was a simple but significant gesture from one Munster legend to another.
Munster have returned to the city where they lost head coach Anthony Foley. They take on Ronan O’Gara’s Racing 92 at Stade Yves du Manoir in a crucial Champions Cup encounter.
The match was set to be played on October 16 but was postponed after Foley was found dead in his Parisian hotel room.
Since then, Munster has come together as a squad and as a province to honour the memory of a man that gave his all to the jersey and the cause.
O’Gara, who played for over a decade with Foley and won two European Cups with him, was already emotional heading into this weekend’s tie, admitting to breaking down in tears watching a tribute to his Munster days that featured a contribution from ‘Axel’.
This moved the great man to tearshttps://t.co/oxjqJrWI1K
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) January 4, 2017
This afternoon, he joined the Racing 92 players that he coaches in paying a lovely tribute to Foley.
Ahead of the game, the French side emerged from the dressing room in red t-shirts with ‘Foley 8’ on the back. It was similar to the poignant gesture made by Leinster on a couple of occasions last year.
Last to emerge was O’Gara [on the right, below] and he was in the same t-shirt too.
This super picture [below] was captured by Murray Kinsella:
Ronan O'Gara comes out onto the pitch in an Axel 8 t-shirt. Pure class. pic.twitter.com/WRcQjgbqpB
— Murray Kinsella (@Murray_Kinsella) January 7, 2017
The Munster fans at the ground certainly respected O’Gara’s small but significant tribute.
