In what can only be described as very difficult circumstances, Erasmus revealed that in preparation for the game, Anthony Foley was often mentioned.

He said: "We actually mentioned his name, we actually said you can't win for Axel, because if you don't win what do you do then?

"But you can play the way Axel wanted us to play, the way he coached, and he knew exactly how he wanted us to play.

"So we mentioned that, last night, this morning and even at half time. The game was about him, otherwise we would have tried to cancel it to another time, but we wanted this opportunity to front up."

The Munster coach said that he had a talk with the players last night about how to play the game and he was pleased at how they went about today's match.

"I was expecting that it would come through, but not in such a mature way. For the players to do it so quickly after something so tragic, I am relieved.

"I was relieved that the guys handled it like that and put together a performance purely for Axel, that's what the performance was all about."

Erasmus admitted that he felt relieved after the week that the club has had.

He said: "We were not sure how ourselves and the players would react, it was such a wierd week which you can't really prepare for.

"And even at the warm-up, I wasn't sure what we were going to get out of this."

The Munster Director of Rugby was especially pleased at the way his players fronted up after Keith Earls was sent off.

He said: "To play with 14 men, I guess the plan was we still have eight forwards, the place to dominate was in the scrum and mauling, and I think that's what pulled us through.

"If you're down a winger, you'll struggle in attack and in the aerial game, so I think the decisions made on the pitch around playing with 14 men were spot on."