Munster honour Anthony Foley with five-try Champions Cup victory over Racing

On a night of tributes to Anthony Foley, Munster opened their Champions Cup campaign with victory in Cork

Craig Casey sealed victory for Munster over Racing 92 and paid tribute to Anthony Foley by holding up eight fingers, a reference to the position played by the province's former captain and head coach. Pic: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile

Champions Cup: Munster 33 Racing 92 25

Munster paid tribute to the late Anthony Foley in the best way possible in Cork on the 10th anniversary of the former captain and head coach’s passing, opening their Champions Cup pool campaign with a hard-fought victory over their Parisian opponents at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday night.

It was a fitting way to honour the Munster icon and 2006 Heineken Cup-winning captain whose sudden death on the eve of this same fixture in Paris was 10 years ago on Friday.

Clayton McMillan’s side outscored Racing by five tries to three with scores from Brian Gleeson, Shay McCarthy, captain Tadhg Beirne, replacement lock Fineen Wycherley and player of the match Craig Casey enough to hold off a spirited second-half comeback from the French Top 14 side.

Despite criticism from Foley’s Munster and Ireland team-mate Ronan O’Gara, who called the decision not to play at Thomond Park on such an emotional anniversary an 'own goal', there had been a surge of ticket sales on matchday and the crowd witnessed opera singer Jean Wallace, wearing Foley’s Shannon jersey, lead a rendition of There Is An Isle backed by members from the club he helped to five All-Ireland League titles between 1995 and 2002.

Munster captain Tadhg Beirne, centre, offloads the ball behind to Charlie O'Shea of Munster depsite the tackle from Demba Bamba of Racing 92. Pic: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile

Rival captains Tadhg Beirne and Maxime Baudonne exchanged their team jerseys bearing the number 8 as the Munster team watched on with Foley’s number on their tracksuit tops, while there was a minute’s applause from the 24,906 crowd in the eighth minute.

And it was perfect symmetry that Munster’s opening try was scored his successor in the position, Gleeson. Racing had taken an early lead through a penalty kicked by fly-half Antoine Gibert but Gleeson, 22 and with the number 24 on his back after Munster temporarily retired the legendary back-rower’s favoured jersey, struck on six minutes, carrying off the back of a five-metre scrum down the blindside to power over for the five points.

Charlie O’Shea marked his European debut in just his fourth senior appearance with the conversion from wide on the right. And he followed that with another on the opposite side six minutes later as wing Shay McCarthy made a scintillating break with an excellent running line, stepped the first Racing defender he encountered and then raced into the left corner to glide past Gibert and score, O’Shea’s conversion making in 14-3.

Gibert added a second penalty on 26 minutes as Racing’s maul reaped dividends but the opening half became a scrappy affair, with no further scoring before the interval, Munster leading 14-6.

The home side wasted little time extending that lead, captain Tadhg Beirne scoring from close range after a period of pressure and plenty of variety in attack just two minutes after the restart, O’Shea converting to push Munster further in front at 21-6.

The increasing deficit seemed to spark Racing into life, though, and two tries in quick succession from wing Wilfried Hulleu and a maul finished by hooker Diego Escobar gave the Cork crowd a sharp reminder that this was a contest far from over, Gibert’s conversion of the second of those scores closing the gap to 21-18.

Shay McCarthy scored Munster's second try against Racing 92. Pic: ©INPHO/Nick Elliott

Munster boss McMillan went to his bench in earnest, deploying back-rowers Jack O’Donoghue and Gavin Coombes on 53 minutes with JJ Hanrahan replacing O’Shea at fly-half while starting props Jeremy Loughman and Jack Aungier made way for Josh Wycherley and Kieran Brookes respectively.

It was the introduction of lock Fineen Wycherley which made the most immediate impact though, the second row powering over with his first touch to give his side some much needed breathing space, Hanrahan’s conversion making it 28-18.

The respite was shortlived as Racing once again responded, centre Joey Manu scoring almost immediately after the restart, the conversion making it a three-point game. Yet Parisian indiscipline gave Munster a lifeline, an aerial takeout of full-back Ben O’Connor sending replacement Arthur Roche to the sin bin on 71 minutes.

Munster quickly re-applied the pressure, won a penalty inside the Racing 22 and beat the away team at their own game with a powerful maul, scrum-half Craig Casey peeling off the drive to score down the blindside. The conversion from Hanrahan was missed but Munster had seen off their opponents to get their European campaign up and running. Foley would have been proud and the team stayed on the pitch after full-time to sing

Stand Up and Fight

in tribute to one of their own.

MUNSTER: B O’Connor; S McCarthy, A Nankivell, D Kelly, S O’Brien; C O’Shea (JJ Hanrahan, 57), C Casey (B O’Donovan, 78); J Loughman (J Wycherley, 57), M van der Merwe (M Clein, 78), J Aungier (K Brookes, 57); T Ahern (F Wycherley, 59), T Beirne - captain; S Edogbo (J O’Donoghue, 53), J Hodnett, B Gleeson (G Coombes, 53).

RACING 92: G Prisciantelli; W Hulleu, V Habosi (S James, 49), J Manu, S Tupou (A Roche, 57); A Gibert, A Latrasse (M Machenaud, 49); E Jabea Njocke (L Leota, 44), D Escobar (Y Basse, 77), G Kharaishvili (D Bamba, 44); T Lainault, J Joseph (N Hughes, 61), L Tagitagivalu, N Martins, M Baudonne – captain.

Yellow card: A Roche 71 mins. 

Replacement not used: S Camara.

Referee: Karl Dickson (England)