Munster plan Anthony Foley tributes for Racing 92 match, 10 years after his death

Munster plan to honour former captain and coach Anthony Foley when they host Racing 92 in the Champions Cup on Saturday, 17 October 2026, in Cork. The match falls a day after the tenth anniversary of his death, bringing the clubs together again in the fixture that was postponed when he died in 2016.

Munster players are set to wear commemorative warm-up jackets featuring the club crest and Foley’s number eight. A round of applause is planned for the eighth minute, while captain Tadhg Beirne is expected to exchange number-eight jerseys with a Racing player, AFP reported.

How Munster players remember Anthony Foley

Munster defence coach Denis Leamy, who played alongside Foley and later under him, called him ‘a very special person, a very special player’. Leamy said Foley had shaped his game and mindset and that Munster would try to do justice to his memory on Saturday, according to AFP.

Beirne said Foley’s words and actions are still discussed within Munster. ‘We live by some of the words he’s spoken every day, so he’s with us all the time,’ the captain said, according to AFP. Peter O’Mahony, who was Munster captain when Foley died, told BBC Sport NI that the loss changed him as a person and that period was among the toughest of his life.

Why the Racing 92 fixture carries particular weight

Foley died in Paris on 16 October 2016, aged 42, hours before Munster were due to play Racing 92. BBC Sport NI attributed his death to a heart condition that caused fluid to build up in his lungs; AFP described a heart rhythm disorder. The match was postponed, and the clubs later played the rearranged fixture and a return game in January 2017.

Former Racing back-rower Antonie Claassen recalled the shock of hearing that Munster’s coach had died. ‘One of the images that stayed with me is people just being in a state of shock,’ he told AFP. The agency reported that the clubs have met seven times since the postponed fixture.

Foley captained Munster to the 2006 Heineken Cup and won 62 caps for Ireland. He retired as a player in 2008, became Munster’s forwards coach in 2011 and took charge as head coach in 2014. Munster also won the European title in 2008 during his playing career.