{"id":62939,"date":"2026-10-17T14:59:41","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T14:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/hyron-andrews-former-sale-sharks-lock-dies-at-team-hotel-in-la-rochelle\/"},"modified":"2026-10-17T14:59:41","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T14:59:41","slug":"hyron-andrews-former-sale-sharks-lock-dies-at-team-hotel-in-la-rochelle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/hyron-andrews-former-sale-sharks-lock-dies-at-team-hotel-in-la-rochelle\/","title":{"rendered":"Hyron Andrews: Former Sale Sharks lock dies at team hotel in La Rochelle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/cy52g7ge30no\" class=\"ssrcss-1fqyhkk-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">Andrews left Sale in the summer<\/a> to return to his native South Africa. He made 45 appearances for the club after arriving in February 2024 from the Durban-based Sharks as injury cover for England international lock Jonny Hill.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Hyron was just a brilliant guy and a brilliant team-mate,&#8221; said Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;He was so skilled on the field but off it, he was always someone you would want to have a beer with.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;He was funny and charismatic in his own unique, dry way and the lads, to a man, loved playing with him and being around him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;It was a big move for Hyron and his wife Maighlin to come to England, but he truly made a second home in Manchester. It was incredible to see how he and his family embraced the club and area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Most importantly, he was a loving husband to Maighlin and a doting father to his two gorgeous boys. It was an absolute privilege to get to know him and it&#8217;s just absolutely devastating for everyone.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">While he was yet to earn senior international honours, Andrews had represented the Junior Springboks in 2015.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Andrews&#8217; death comes 10 years on from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/rugby-union\/37672703\" class=\"ssrcss-1fqyhkk-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">the sudden death of Munster coach Anthony Foley in Paris before a Champions Cup fixture.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Foley, 42, died in his sleep on the eve of a match against Racing 92 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/rugby-union\/37676597\" class=\"ssrcss-1fqyhkk-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">after a heart condition caused fluid to build up in his lungs.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Munster&#8217;s present-day players will wear commemorative tops, featuring the Munster club crest and Foley&#8217;s shirt number eight <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/cwj0lze7ezn2o\" class=\"ssrcss-1fqyhkk-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">as part of their pre-match routine at their match against Racing on Saturday.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The Lions, who play their home matches at Ellis Park, are making their first appearance in Europe&#8217;s premier club competition, with South African sides introduced into the continental competition in the 2022-23 season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">They have won two of their first three matches in the United Rugby Championship so far this season, including beating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/cmn4551jd478o\" class=\"ssrcss-1fqyhkk-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">defending champions Leinster in their first game of their campaign.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Andrews had played in all three games, making his first start for his new club in Saturday&#8217;s 57-15 defeat by the Bulls.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In an interview with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/shorts\/PsnJx6QVGDY\" class=\"ssrcss-1fqyhkk-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">Mapantsula a Rugby Show,<span class=\"visually-hidden ssrcss-i2z2ig-VisuallyHidden e16en2lz0\">, <!-- -->external<\/span><\/a> published earlier this week, Andrews talked about the various Johannesburg attractions he has visited since arriving in the city.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;We work hard here, it&#8217;s good to decompress, get away and spend some time with the family,&#8221; he said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;When the family is happy, you are happy and it shows when you go to work.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/cqdjvxynj2kyo?at_medium=RSS&#038;at_campaign=rss\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Andrews left Sale in the summer to return to his native South Africa. He made 45 appearances for the club after arriving in February 2024 from the Durban-based Sharks as injury cover for England international lock Jonny Hill. &#8220;Hyron was just a brilliant guy and a brilliant team-mate,&#8221; said Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62939"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62941,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62939\/revisions\/62941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}