It was difficult to listen to Keith Wood on Newstalk on Monday morning.
He goes way back with Anthony Foley and the pain of the Munster legend’s passing was etched in his voice.
Together, the pair went to battle with their country for eight years. The one season Keith Wood joined Foley in the red of Munster, they took the province the whole way to the Heineken Cup final.
Both of them were warriors. Both of them were tough as old boots and both of them would run through a brick wall for each other if they had to.
Suddenly, in Paris, that bond and friendship was consigned to memories but what memories they are.
Keith Wood can smile at the times he spent with Foley but he’s still trying to come to terms with the magnitude of just what has happened.
The Irish legend spoke with Pat Kenny of Newstalk and he was trying to make sense of the whole situation.
“I’m smiling rarely but there are memories that come back that would make you smile,” he said.
“It’s just wrong. It just doesn’t make any sense. It brings the sense of mortality very close. The fact we’re talking about him in the past tense is unbelievably surreal.”
He went on to pay tribute to his old team mate.
“Everywhere he played and anything he did, there was a trophy in his hand at the end of it.
“He was never the fittest or fastest guy, but he was the smartest guy I played on a field with. He was invariably where ever the ball was.
“He didn’t speak a huge amount, but everything he said was perfect.”
Books of condolences will open on midday on Monday in seven city and county councils in each county of Munster.
This is a tough listen on Newstalk.
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