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CJ Stander on the poignancy of being in Paris last Friday, the day that would have been the late Anthony Foley's 47th birthday
CJ Stander has spoken about how his recent Six Nations trip to Paris with Ireland left him vividly remembering the late Anthony Foley, the Munster coach who tragically passed away in the French capital city four years ago.
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Last Friday, the night before Ireland took on France in the 2020 Six Nations finale, would have been Foley’s 47th birthday and it wasn’t lost on Stander how he was staying with the Irish squad in a hotel close to the Arc de Triomphe just a 5km walk from the hotel at Pont de Suresnes where Foley and the Munster squad were staying on that tragic October 2016 weekend.
Casting his mind back to that awful Sunday morning when Munster learned that Foley had died in his sleep overnight prior to a European match at Racing 92, Stander told the Irish Daily Star: “My biggest thing was the family, to see if someone was really struggling and have a conversation with them because there was that uncertainty.
“No-one knew what was going on. There were people around, people were running, people were crying, it was almost like a war zone. That’s probably not the right words to use but there was confusion everywhere so I just wanted to make sure everyone was understanding what was going on and that there was no uncertainty.
“When you get to a situation like that there are so many people with different personalities so I tried to figure how every person ticked and what I could do for them to make them feel comfortable.
In the hour of his greatest triumph, Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus remembered his late Munster colleague Anthony Foley https://t.co/TMUvPcg7zK
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 5, 2019
“That was the main thing, especially with Axel’s dad, Brendan, and he had a few friends that came to the hotel. I just wanted to make sure that they at least had a cup of coffee. It’s probably just a thing I would like to happen for me if something like that happens in my family.”
Stander added: “That void was a difficult thing to fill and to move on from because you see pictures of him and you talk to people about him, and especially working closely with him the last few years. Still to this day, talking to Olive (Foley’s widow) and seeing his sisters and his mum and dad, it’s a tough thing to talk about because you see them and you want to talk about him, and you want to celebrate him.
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“For me anyway there’s still that void, as if almost he’s going to walk around the corner today, he’s going to walk into the room. He was a massive big, big loss for me personally and for the province in general. He was a class act and a class man.
“It’s not even the day we think about him, for me especially, we talk about him, he pops up in a few conversations during the year as well, and it just shows the calibre of the man.”
"I had never seen them in my life. This man pulls them out of his bag as if it is nothing. That bag was a bag of tricks"https://t.co/1ZFNIqZsif
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 4, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to comments