Munster boss Foley hails Manning magic

JEREMY Manning, a player whose season has been ravaged by injury, demonstrated his potential with two smashing tries in Munster’s British & Irish Cup semi-final victory at Thomond Park on Saturday.

Anthony Foley’s team maintained their perfect record from six matches in the series with a display that suggests they will enter the May 16 decider as favourites against Cornish Pirates who defeated Doncaster Knights 43-5 yesterday.

The coach was thrilled by the performance but singled out Manning for special praise. Foley said: “He’s exciting on the ball, he controlled the defensive line well, he had a couple of good reads when they tried to play out the backdoor and was very solid. But above all, he took his tries really well. He’s one of the lads who was ruled out by injury for long periods of the season and we’re delighted to have quality players like that playing in the A team.