Foley urges Hanrahan to provide missing spark to fire Reds’ challenge

Munster head coach Anthony Foley has thrown down the gauntlet to JJ Hanrahan by asking the reportedly unsettled young playmaker to provide the cutting edge needed to inflict a famous victory over Clermont Auvergne at Stade Marcel Michelin tomorrow (3:15pm Irish time).

With a Champions Cup defeat at home in Thomond Park to Clermont still haunting the Munstermen as they prepared for the return pool fixture this week, the last thing Foley wanted was to deal with media speculation linking 22-year-old Hanrahan with a move away from the province to English champions Northampton Saints next summer.

The Munster boss had explained Hanrahan’s lack of game time this season in terms of managing the Kerryman’s return from a long-running pelvic problem, osteitis pubis, before insisting the exciting young back had a big future in his native province beyond the expiration of his current contract in June 2015.