Munster overcome Racing at on 10th anniversary of Anthony Foley’s death, with a minute’s silence for Johannesburg Lions’ Hyron Andrews

As Champions Cup opening weekends go, from an entirely parochial Irish point of view, that wasn’t too bad at all. “It’s a tsunami of glorious attacking quality,” said Mark Robson, and he was only talking about Connacht’s display against Saracens. Throw in Munster and Leinster’s meetings with Racing and Clermont and we had ourselves three Irish wins, 126 Irish points and 19 Irish tries. You’d take that.

Leinster were up first and even though they helped themselves to a handsome enough 48-23 bonus-point win away to Clermont, Stephen Ferris, back in the Premier Sports studio, only gave them an 8.5 mark out of 10 for their efforts. That was partly because he adjudged Clermont to be a bit rubbish, Rob Kearney not disagreeing, although he was reasonably complimentary about the man of the match, Sam Prendergast.

When he spoke to the French telly man after, Prendergast was labelled a “demi-d’ouverture” on-screen. We’re going over old ground here, so apologies, but the French terms for rugby positions will never not be lovely.

A demi-d’ouverture sounds much more like a half-completed orchestral piece by Rossini or Brahms, of course, rather than the outhalf person who directs traffic on a rugby pitch. Lovelier still, incidentally, is the term for the scrumhalf: le demi de melee.. That’d be kinda like the Gaelic for the position being an leath shemozzle, which it isn’t. But should be.

Any way, le match du jour proved to be the one over in Galway, Connacht welcoming sort of the Manchester City of rugby, Saracens. Not really in trophy-hauling terms, more down to difficulties understanding money rules down the years.

As Mark noted, having been drawn in a pool featuring five former winners of the competition, Connacht were “in with carnivores”, and finding themselves 12-0 down after 12 minutes, it looked like they might be eaten alive.

But? They responded with just the 19 unanswered points, Mark’s companion Darren Cave struggling to keep up. “It’s caught us sleeping in the commentary box,” he said, “we were thinking of our next pun.” Soon after. “It’s Saracens’ turn to throw haymakers back ... you just wonder will Connacht do any form of shadow boxing?”

The tries kept on coming. “We’ve already been treated to nine, all from different areas of the cheese board,” said Mark. Whether this is an actual rugby term with which us non-rugger people are unfamiliar, or whether it was simply a reference to the variety of scores on view, who knows? “It hasn’t just been a Gouda game, it’s been un-Brie-lievably grate – I wouldn’t rule Sars out, though, this is not a feta-compli,” Darren didn’t reply, completely missing a trick.

Saracens wouldn’t lay down, so the west couldn’t rest easy, Mark wondering, even in the dying stages, if they might still “take a bit of air out of this Connacht Hindenburg”. Unlike the Hindenburg, though, Connacht landed safely at the end of a breathlessly tremendous game.

On to Cork for Munster against Racing at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. A poignant evening too, of course, with the marking of the 10th anniversary of Anthony Foley’s death.

“Axel was the embodiment of everything good about Munster rugby,” Simon Zebo had said on The Late Late Show the evening before. “The backs against the wall, the underdogs, doing the impossible, lifting the Champions Cup, the first captain to do so for the province. He means a whole lot to a whole lot of people in Munster and Irish rugby, and I’ve no doubt his legacy will live on forever. It’s cemented.”

And when Premier Sports introduced its coverage of the game, we saw Zebo looking through the collection of photos of Foley displayed at the ground, each of them picking out memorable landmarks in his storied career.

At the best of times, There is an Isle and Stand up and Fight would stir you, but when the Shannon RFC choir sang the former before the game in honour of Foley, and the Munster players gathered in a circle to sing the latter post-match, they were very beautiful tributes.

And before the game, a minute’s silence for the Johannesburg Lions’ Hyron Andrews who died on Saturday at the age of just 31 before his side’s game against La Rochelle. The cruelty of it all.