Munster aim to honour Anthony Foley in best way possible – with victory against Racing

It still seems scarcely believable that Anthony Foley died so young and that it was all of 10 years ago when the news broke on the morning that Munster were scheduled to play Racing in Paris. Poignantly, Munster host the same opponents in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday (kick-off 8pm), the day after the 10th anniversary of Axel’s passing. His memory and presence will, no doubt, linger over this Champions Cup first-round tie. There will be nothing like the emotional turmoil endured by the Munster squad that following week, when Foley’s funeral took place in Killaloe the day before they beat Glasgow 38-17 in front of a packed Thomond Park.The Munster Branch have organised several tributes around Saturday’s game to commemorate their former player and head coach’s immense contribution to the province.For the squad and management, their best form of tribute will be in their performance.READ MORE“We’ve spoken about it briefly,” said defence coach Denis Leamy after the squad’s Tuesday morning session at Thomond Park. Leamy’s playing career overlapped with Foley’s for six seasons, including packing down in the same backrow in the breakthrough 2006 European triumph over Biarritz in Cardiff when Foley was captain.“I spoke about it this morning myself in my own presentation,” he said. “I think that’s going to be very much there. The players are very much aware of it. I think we can’t get too emotional on a Tuesday. That would be wrong, but we’re drip-feeding that in.“There’s loads of different things that are going to honour the Foley family and Axel in an appropriate way.” Jean Wallace and Shannon members will sing There Is An Isle before the game, while home players will be wearing commemorative jackets with Foley’s number eight on the back. Munster Supporters Club will lead a round of applause in the eighth minute and both captains will exchange number eight jerseys.Munster team-mates Anthony Foley and Denis Leamy tackle Andre Vos of Harlequins during a European Cup match in 2004. Photograph: Lorraine O'Sullivan/Inpho Munster and Racing have a rich and respectful history, having met nine times previously in the competition, with four wins apiece and one draw.“For us, the biggest honour we can give him is to go out and perform and win the game and do our jersey and his memory justice,” said Leamy.“That’s definitely to the forefront of the Munster players and the Munster squad and the Munster management at the moment. We don’t want to use it too much as an emotional tool or go too far down that rabbit hole. We have to think about performance and how we get the best out of the 23 players we have.“As I said, the result and hopefully the win will be a way of showing our care and our love for Axel.”Munster let slip a 26-5 lead away to Ulster last Saturday, on foot of which Leamy said: “Ultimately the big message was loads of good, loads to build on and loads of strong performances.”There were no injuries arising from that game, and at a push Edwin Edogbo and new summer signing Will Harrison could be involved on Saturday after returning to training this week.“He’s a guy that covers a good few positions,” said Leamy of the 27-year-old Harrison, formerly an outhalf/fullback for the Waratahs. “He’s a left-footer and definitely comes with a big reputation. We’re just getting him back to full strength around that knee. He’s looking good, so hopefully we’ll see him back in the next couple of games.”Will Harrison has returned to training and could make an appearance for Munster against Racing 92 at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday. Photograph: Tom O'Hanlon/Inpho Defence coaches such as Leamy have it tough in these modern times – witness Northampton’s 71-48 win over Bath last Saturday.“You look at some of the scores in other leagues and in our own league, it’s hard to keep scorelines down now. Attacks and the way the game is refereed allows for a little bit more of a free-flowing product. I think the dark arts have gone out of the game around the breakdown.“Definitely breakdowns are cleaner, mauls are cleaner and the speed of ball is quicker. Attacks are really well put together in how they overload you with numbers,” said Leamy, who added, “certainly the team without possession is getting refereed”.A flip side of Munster only providing three of Ireland’s 34-man squad in the summer is that they’ve had comparatively little disruption, with Craig Casey and Jeremy Loughman having played the last two weeks, while Tadhg Beirne returned against Ulster.“We should be up and running really,” said Leamy, believing that their three opponents have provided different challenges. Besides which, he added: “In this day and age, what’s a settled 15? I think the game has changed an awful lot. It’s not like 20 years ago where you could roll out the same Munster pack or the same Munster 15 every European Cup game.“If you rolled out the same 15 every weekend, there wouldn’t be too many fellas walking around here. They’re going to be pretty busted up. We’ve used 37 players,” he added.“I think if you get into playoff rugby and you’re in the semi-finals and finalists, that’s where you probably see a settled 15 more so than not.”Ticket sales have only topped 20,000 so far, compared to the 36,208 sell-out at the same venue for last December’s clash with Gloucester. Munster, though, point out that they had asked for a December home game and that even with a shorter window to sell tickets, this game is on course to be the best attended of the pool stages in Ireland.