Munster honour Foley with rout of Racing

MUNSTER paid a scintillating tribute to for mer coach A nt hony Foley on Saturday by routing Racing 92 32-7 to edge closer to t he Eu ropea n Cup quarterf inals.

Foley, 42, died in a Paris hotel in October just before the two sides were to play the original fixture.

The game was called off as a mark of respect and rearranged for Saturday with Munster, the champions of 2006 a nd 2008, sweeping to v ictor y against a woeful Racing side who have now lost a ll four of t heir matches in the tournament.

Munster ra n i n f ou r t r ie s for a bonus-poi nt w i n which propel led them to the top of Pool 1, three points ahead of Glasgow.

Simon Zebo, CJ Stander (two) and Andrew Conway scored Munster’s tries.

Racing, who were runners-up to Saracens in last season’s final, had to wait until the 64th minute to get on the scoreboard when Mathieu Voisin grabbed the French team’s only tr y.

All Blacks star Dan Carter, who started the match on the bench, kicked the extras but the big-spending Paris outfit remain rooted to the foot of the table without a point to their name.

“It’s a great feeling for me and the team to honour ‘the big man’ with a win,” said Munster’s South African backrow forward Stander who, like Foley did, wears the No8 shirt.

“When things like this happen, it affects you. We try and hide the emo- tion and I think we dealt with it really well today.”

Racing did their part to remember Foley at the start of the match at the Stade Yves-du-Manoir. They walked out on to the pitch wearing the red shirts of Munster with the name of Foley on the back of their warm-up jerseys.

Both sets of fans joined a round of applause in honour of the Irishman while his nickname of “Axel” was splashed across a number of placards inside the ground.