Twenty points from the boot of Jeremy Manning in the course of his Man of the Match performance helped Munster to a 25-20 win over Neath-Swansea Ospreys in front of a 6000+ crowd at Thomond Park on Saturday evening.
Munster took their first tentative step on the road up the Magners League table with a 25-20 over Neath-Swansea Ospreys in Thomond Park on Saturday. It was a victory that no-one could quibble with although there were anxious moments at the end as Ospreys clawed their way back into the game with two Shaun Connor penalties that left just one score separating the sides. And with referee Ian Heard playing nearly ten minutes of in jury time the nerves of supporters were severely tested.
Manning was on the mark with a penalty within two minutes of the start and he followed up with two more before slotting a delightful drop-goal to put Munster into a deserved 12 pint lead.
With the Munster pack getting through a trojan amount of work and despite the spoiling efforts of the Ospreys Manning tagged on another penalty before Connor nipped in under the posts for a try he converted himself.
In injury time the ever impressive James Coughlan scored his sides only try as Munster led 22-7 going into the break.
Jony Vaughton brought Ospreys right back into it within five minutes of the restart with a try that Connor converted but Manning was again on target in the 60th minute for a crucial score.
Munster took their first tentative step on the road up the Magners League table with a 25-20 over Neath-Swansea Ospreys in Thomond Park on Saturday. It was a victory that no-one could quibble with although there were anxious moments at the end as Ospreys clawed their way back into the game with two Shaun Connor penalties that left just one score separating the sides. And with referee Ian Heard playing nearly ten minutes of in jury time the nerves of supporters were severely tested.
Manning was on the mark with a penalty within two minutes of the start and he followed up with two more before slotting a delightful drop-goal to put Munster into a deserved 12 pint lead.
With the Munster pack getting through a trojan amount of work and despite the spoiling efforts of the Ospreys Manning tagged on another penalty before Connor nipped in under the posts for a try he converted himself.
In injury time the ever impressive James Coughlan scored his sides only try as Munster led 22-7 going into the break.
Jony Vaughton brought Ospreys right back into it within five minutes of the restart with a try that Connor converted but Manning was again on target in the 60th minute for a crucial score.
Munster: S Payne; A Horgan, L Mafi, T Halstead, I Dowling (B Murphy 80 min); J Manning (E Hickey 80 min), T O’Leary; D Hurley, A Kyriacou, F Pucciariello; M O’Driscoll capt, C Wyatt (D Ryan 76 min); A Quinlan, T McGann, J Coughlan (J O’Sullivan 80 min).
Ospreys: S Terblance; J Vaughton, T Selley, AN Other, N Walker; S Connor, J Marshall; P James capt, B Williams, A Millward; M Powell, L Bateman; A Lloyd, S Tandy, F Tiatia.
Referee: I Heard (SRU)
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