Oct 22 : South African club Lions are treading a thin line between the emotional impact of forward Hyron Andrews’ death last week and preparing to play another match on Friday
The 31-year-old lock suffered an aortic dissection, a tear in the body's main artery, and died at the team hotel in France last Friday, a day before they lost to La Rochelle in the European Champions Cup, a game that went ahead in honour of Andrews.
French media reported that Andrews was found unconscious in a shower cubicle at a hotel on the Ile de Re, where the team had been staying.
The Lions decided to play that match for their teammate and are now in Scotland for United Rugby Championship fixtures against Edinburgh at Hive Stadium on Friday and Glasgow Warriors next weekend.
The shock of losing Andrews has been difficult for the players to deal with, said assistant coach Julian Redelinghuys.
“We’ve been saying this since it happened, there’s no manual for this,” the former Springbok prop told reporters in a virtual press conference.
“I don’t think there’s any team that has had to go through a thing like this, where a player died in camp a day before a game, and then they were on tour for another two weeks.
“To say it was a rough week is probably an understatement, but the support we received from almost everyone was huge. The sorrow everyone felt, and the way it was handled, felt authentic,” Redelinghuys added.
Emotions ran high before the match against La Rochelle, with Andrews’ No. 5 jersey placed on the field in a moment of silence during which a number of players were crying.
“The responses from all over the world on the team’s decision to play speak to the man Hyron was,” said coach Ivan van Rooyen.
“He had the ability to pull people closer together. The team’s decision to play also speaks to the character of the team, the deep care for each other and the willingness to sacrifice self for a greater good.”
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Ken Ferris)