IRISH rugby will join together on St Patrick's Day to play a match in memory of Munster legend Anthony Foley.
An Ireland Legends team will face England as the curtain raiser to Six Nations clash between the two sides on St Patrick's Day weekend. The exhibition match will take place in memory of the former Ireland and Munster number eight, who died suddenly on October 16 last year.
The charity encounter will feature over 2,300 international caps as household names such as Ronan O'Gara, Gordon D'Arcy, Jerry Flannery and Paddy Wallace line out for the home side. Meanwhile the England Legends side will boast world cup winners Mike Tindall, Iain Balshaw and Jason Leonard, with former Ireland second row Paul O'Connell and English number eight Lawrence Dallaglio acting as waterboys on the day.
One of the organisers, former Ireland hooker Shane Byrne is hoping yet more money will be raised for charity through the annual fixture.
"We started this fixture back in 2008 and it has grown every year, raising over €600,000 for charity. However, this time around the fixture will take on added significance – Anthony played in this game before and I know that he would have loved another crack at the English. They have had the upper hand of late, but we have plenty of Irishmen waiting to take the fight to them for one last time in a green jersey," he said.
The legends game will take place at the RDS in Dublin on Friday evening, March 17, with kick-off 6pm. Tickets are available on ticketmaster.ie
