Munster Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus admits the memory of Anthony Foley will be amplified this week as they prepare for the Champions Cup clash with Racing 92 on Saturday.
Foley passed away prior to the initial date for the fixture aged just 42 after a decorated career with the province.
As Munster prepare to return to Paris, Erasmus admits it is difficult to prepare for the encounter.
“Last week was a five-day turnaround which was physically tough. This week, apart from playing three European games in three weeks, it is also as everybody knows, that Axel passed away when we were due to play there last time.
“That will definitely contribute to the whole thing. So far it is just trying to get through the week, train as hard as we can, as best we can and go and perform as well as we can, and channel that emotion in the right direction and for the right reasons.
“The players, senior players, management and supporters – all of us have to [remember him] – and I think that is great. We will keep trying to do it that way. We have internal things which we do in the team to remember him by, to play by and legend he was, to almost ratify that, and talk about that all the time. Internally he will always stay in our minds, but this week will be a bit amplified of course.”
Erasmus believes a performance inspired by Foley’s influence at Munster will go a long way to helping secure a positive result as he reflected on the short time working with him.
“I’m almost sure if we play that way that sometimes it will give us the results because he was such a sharp man when it comes to rugby,” he concluded.
“Sometimes I think we didn’t all understand what he was trying to say because he was really a forward-thinker.”
