Racing 92 have remained class personified in their dealing with the passing of Anthony Foley back in October.
Days after his old friend's departure, Ronan O'Gara wrote in his Irish Examiner column of his current club's commendable response when he broke the tragic news ahead of Munster's visit to Colombes. Racing, according to their defence coach, told the EPCR that under no circumstance were they to be awarded a victory, and pushed for the fixture to be rescheduled.
Further to their admirable reaction on that sad autumn day, it was recently announced that Racing fans would open their doors to their travelling Munster counterparts for Saturday's rescheduled fixture, with the club itself requesting that both sets of supporters form a guard of honour for the teams as they approach the Yves du Manoir. Ian Buckley, secretary of the Munster Rugby Supporters' Club, explained how members were 'blown away' by the gesture from Racing.
Our tribute to Anthony Foley. pic.twitter.com/Y7TvNnOeFk
— Sky Sports Rugby Union (@SkySportsRugby) October 20, 2016
On Friday afternoon, Sky Sports - who will broadcast the fixture, and whose above homage made whimpering eejits of us back in October - confirmed that Racing will continue their own tribute to Anthony Foley inside the stadium.
Racing's players will don red t-shirts with Foley's name for their warm-up, while in the stands, fans will unfurl two banners; one will read simply 'Axel', while the other will say 'Red Army welcome back'. To top it off, Racing will also release red smoke from pitch-side during the minute's applause for the late, great Foley.
It's certainly a thoughtful and wonderful gesture by the French club ahead of a game which, to them, is essentially a dead rubber, but to Munster will prove a stern mental test on another emotionally-charged day for the southern province.
