{"id":656681,"date":"2026-10-16T15:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T15:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/656681\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T15:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T15:58:12","slug":"lions-player-hyron-andrews-found-dead-before-champions-cup-game-against-la-rochelle-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/656681\/","title":{"rendered":"Lions player Hyron Andrews found dead before Champions Cup game against La Rochelle \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Hyron Andrews, a member of the Lions squad, has been found dead in the team\u2019s hotel before the South African side\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/champions-cup\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/champions-cup\/\">Champions Cup<\/a> game against La Rochelle. The player is understood to have been found unconscious in the shower having reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Andrews could not be revived by emergency services after the alarm was raised at the Atalante-Relais Thalasso hotel on the \u00cele de R\u00e9. Lions players and staff have been informed and are said to be receiving support.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Rudolf Straeuli, Lions CEO, paid tribute to the 31-year-old lock, who previously played for Sharks and Sale Sharks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cOur deepest and most heartfelt condolences go to Hyron\u2019s wife, Maiglin, their young sons, and the entire Andrews family. We hold them in our thoughts during this time of unimaginable grief and ask that their privacy be respected as they mourn.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cWe are heartbroken by the passing of Hyron. He was not only a gifted rugby player, but also a cherished member of our Lions family having recently joined us this season. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cOn behalf of our Chairman, Mr Altmann Allers, the board and everyone at the Lions, I extend our deepest sympathies to Maiglin, their young sons Hendrix and Emerson and the entire Andrews family. We stand with them in their sorrow and will remember Hyron with great affection and respect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cThe Lions Rugby Company will communicate further details regarding an appropriate tribute in due course.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cIn honour of Hyron, the 10bet Lions will fulfill their opening match of the Investec Champions Cup against La Rochelle tomorrow evening (18:30) South African time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cMay Hyron rest in peace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The tragic situation comes on the 10th anniversary of the death of the Munster coach Anthony Foley in a Paris hotel room in 2016. Foley, who was 42, died in his sleep on the eve of a European tie against Racing 92 after a heart condition caused fluid to build up in his lungs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">La Rochelle head coach Ronan O\u2019Gara was part of Racing 92\u2019s coaching team at the time of Foley\u2019s death and is believed to be in his way to the Lions team hotel to offer condolences and show support.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Tributes are due to paid to him before this weekend\u2019s game against Racing in Cork, with the Munster players set to wear commemorative presentation jackets featuring the club crest and the number eight, Foley\u2019s position. \u2013 Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hyron Andrews, a member of the Lions squad, has been found dead in the team\u2019s hotel before the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[32728,42,117866,43,1450,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-656681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-champions-cup","tag-headlines","tag-la-rochelle-rugby","tag-news","tag-springboks","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}