Munster face emotional weekend in grief-stricken Paris for Champions Cup match

Munster captain CJ Stander promised the utmost respect for Parisians when they visit the grief-stricken French capital next weekend but insisted his side have to treat their Champions Cup pool clash with Stade Francais with a ‘business as usual’ mindset.

The Irish province go to the Stade Jean Bouin in south-west Paris on Sunday to continue a Pool 4 campaign which got up and running at the weekend with a 32-7 bonus-point victory in round one at home to Treviso. French champions Stade, meanwhile, opened with a 33-20 loss at Leicester Tigers on Friday night as their home city was coming under siege at the hands of terrorists, the terrible outcome of which saw 128 people murdered.

All Champions Cup fixtures on French soil over the weekend were postponed, with games elsewhere in the competition preceded by a minute’s silence as rugby paid its respects to the victims but emotions will remain close to the surface next week and beyond as both Stade and Racing Metro struggle alongside fellow Parisians to come to terms with the shocking and deadly events.