CJ Stander’s heartfelt message to Munster fans says it all

If you cut CJ Stander open, he would bleed red.

There's an old saying from the Spartan days used as a final rallying cry for the legendary soldiers of Sparta:

"Come back with your shield - or on it..."

The message was simple: if you're going to go down, go down fighting. Go down with your shield in your hand and do not, whatever the hell you do, let go of your shield because it was too important in the defence of the group. CJ Stander has been in Ireland just five years now but he has respected and loved the culture and heritage more than most will do in a lifetime. At 27 years of age, he could genuinely go on to be a legend of sorts with the country but he's already got Munster in his core now. During that crushing defeat to Saracens on Saturday when the province was denied a place in the Champions Cup final, Stander once again went above and beyond for the cause. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/855835242124505090 Playing through an injury and still playing to the maximum, CJ Stander showed what makes him one of the most popular men on the island. He showed what he's made of.

"Here was a man that was 70% fit but 100% committed," Patrick McCarry reported from the Aviva Stadium. "When his heart was pumping and his lungs were searing, Stander moved like the Stander that trucked ball and bashed all before him back in February and March. "When there was a break in play or a Munster move broke down, it was then that you realised just how heavily Stander was limping."

This guy is no blow-in. He's thrown himself so wholly into the Munster and Ireland setups that it's sometimes hard to believe that he wasn't always there. And Munster is a tight-knit club - one of the closest. They grieve together, they celebrate together, they look out for one another. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/856498446886473728 CJ Stander gets what it means to wear the red of that province and he feels the pain as much as any of them when they fall just short of the biggest stage. His message to the fans was just perfect. https://www.instagram.com/p/BTPMVRHgb21/?taken-by=cjstander&hl=en It wasn't to be this year but it wasn't supposed to be for Stander at all on Saturday - not if his body's injuries had anything to do with it. Fortunately, they had nothing to do with it - not compared to his strong mind or his heart. Not compared to his passion for the cause. They'll be back. Stander will be right there with them.