Anthony Foley's loss stuns UIster boss Les Kiss
Kiss, whose side were defeated 28-13 by Bordeaux-Begles, worked alongside Foley in the Irish set up.
“My thoughts go out to Axel’s family, his kids, to the Munster family,” Kiss told Sky Sports. “It’s a sad loss for a lot of people in Irish rugby and Munster rugby. It’s tragic really, to tell you the truth.
“It makes you think about what’s really important in life, and to lose someone so young, a good man, a great man, it’s tragic. He was the heart and soul of the Irish team too for a long time,” added Kiss. “I had the pleasure to coach with Axel, and he just saw the game in the simplest way. That was to be tough up front and play the game in an uncompromising way, and that was they type of character he was.”
Kiss described Foley as a generous man who put his family ahead of everything.
“He couldn’t do enough for people. When you have someone like that in the game in your country, like Ireland have, it’s a blessing. This is such a sad loss for everyone. I think more than anything, Axel stood for something. When he had a thought on something or when he talked about something, you could see the conviction in his voice. When he reflected on Olive and has family, there was always this wonderful generous spirit there that knew that family was important. He talked about his dad a lot, and a lot of those things, so family was a very important thing to him as well. He was part of that Munster family in the halcyon days, and he stood for something, but more importantly he was a family man.”
Andrew Trimble’s try was not enough to prevent Ulster surrendering a late lead to lose 28-13 at Bordeaux-Begles. Trimble’s score helped Ulster lead 10-3 at half-time and they were still ahead by four points entering the final seven minutes before Bordeaux claimed three tries in succession.
Tries: Taofifenua, Penalty, Connor. Cons: Beauxis 2. Pens: Madigan 2, Beauxis.
Buttin, Ashley-Cooper, Dubie, Lonca, Connor, Madigan, Lesgourgues, Poirot, Maynadier, Cobilas, Marais, Cazeaux, Jones, Chalmers, Goujon.
Talebula for Connor (51), Beauxis for Madigan (51), Serin for Lesgourgues (51), Taofifenua for Poirot (58), Avei for Maynadier (49), Clerc for Cobilas (58), Palmer for Cazeaux (73), Tauleigne for Goujon (60).
Tries: Trimble. Cons: Jackson. Pens: Jackson 2.
Payne, Trimble, L. Marshall, Olding, Gilroy, Jackson, Pienaar, Warwick, R. Best, Ah You, O’Connor, van der Merwe, Henderson, C. Ross, Reidy.
Stockdale for Gilroy (75), P. Marshall for Pienaar (75), McCall for Warwick (60), Kane for Ah You (47), Browne for O’Connor (53), Herring for van der Merwe (75), Wilson for C. Ross (60).
JP Doyle (RFU)
