‘Anthony always remembered his club and school’

The sweetest phone call of Anthony Foley’s rugby life was recalled yesterday by the man who told him he was getting his first international cap.

Noel Murphy, then chairman of the Irish selectors and team manager, managed to catch up with Anthony at Shannon to break the news every player dreams of.

Speaking from his hospital bed in Cork, Noel said: “The young back row was waiting to catch a flight from Shannon to Dublin for a training session. It was January 1995.”