MUNSTER-GLASGOW GAME SET TO GO AHEAD

GRIEVING Munster will return to work this morning in Limerick, with Saturday’s lunchtime Champions Cup game at home to Glasgow Warriors still going ahead as planned at the moment despite the sudden death of head coach Anthony Foley. Munster are said to be under no pressure from tournament organisers EPCR to definitely stage the match as scheduled. However, with no funeral arrangements as yet made, they are set to gather at their University of Limerick base with a view to playing in four days’ time. The Glasgow team are due to travel across to Ireland on Thursday to prepare for the game and were training yesterday as normal. The 42-year-old’s body is still under the jurisdiction of French authorities in a Paris mortuary and has not been released back to his family. Foley, one of Irish rugby’s most popular figures, passed away in his sleep at a hotel the night before last Sunday’s scheduled match at Racing 92, with the game subsequently postponed. The cause of death could be known as early as tomorrow after an autopsy was requested on Monday. Foley’s body was discovered on Sunday morning in his room at the Novotel de Suresnes in Longchamp in the west of the French capital after he failed to appear in the hotel car park for a planned walk-through by the forwards of their lineout moves. There was initially speculation that he had suffered a heart attack, but the Nanterre prosecutor’s office handling the investigation claimed yesterday that there was no clear indication yet of the exact cause of death. The grieving Foley family said they have been plunged into ‘an incomprehensible darkness’ following the death of the 2006 European Cup winning captain, who was capped by Ireland on 62 occasions. ‘Our anguish at the sudden loss of Anthony is bottomless,’ the statement said of Foley, who has left a wife and two children. ‘We have been plunged deep into an incomprehensible darkness and sense of loss that we must work our way through over the coming days, weeks, months and years. ‘We have ultimately lost an amazing, adoring and loving father and husband; an equally caring, loyal and devoted son and brother; a central and go-to figure for the wider Foley and Hogan families. ‘We know, too, that his sudden death has brought the rugby worlds of Shannon RFC, Munster, Ireland and much further afield crashing down. ‘You have lost a former player, coach, friend and all-round inspiration — your and our hero both. ‘We mourn his loss together. We wish to thank everyone for their support. It will help carry us through these darkest days.’ Foley’s father Brendan, himself a famed former Ireland and Munster player, had flown back into the country on the team flight with a family friend, arriving home to Killaloe in the early hours of Monday morning. The family expressed their gratitude for the hundreds of messages of sympathy from fans, many of whom signed books of condolence. Numerous mourning Munster players were seen in Limerick yesterday, visiting the impromptu shrine to Foley that has sprung up at the gates to Thomond Park. Out-half Ian Keatley, reflecting on the shock death of his coach, said: ‘Rugby is the last thing on our minds. This year is not going to be easy for the team. There is a big hole there.’ Munster director of rugby Rassie Erasmus and captain Peter O’Mahony are due to hold a media briefing at the squad’s training base tomorrow.