Woody attraction

There is nobody as committed to Munster rugby as Limerick's Brendan Foley, especially when his son Anthony is playing a key role in the back row.

Foley, the former Ireland second row, now runs his own coach tour company from Limerick. His job last Saturday was to pick up a party of 12 Finnish foresters from Dublin Airport and transport them to the well-wooded haven of Glendalough in Co Wicklow.

But this didn't suit Foley at all. Nor did it suit the Coillte representative, Michael Lillis, who also hails from Limerick. The Munster match clashed with the Finns' official itinerary, but Foley persuaded his charges that the best way to spend the afternoon was to watch Munster hammer Toulouse from the comfort of the La Touche Hotel in Greystones, more or less a halfway house between Dublin and Glendalough.

The Finns are officially here this week as guests of the nation to study Coillte's input into Irish forestry. They had never seen a rugby match before, but were enthralled by the proceedings and Foley says they now want to know how they can watch the final.

So there's 12 new Munster converts.

They never made it to Glendalough on Saturday, but Foley promised he would get them there on Sunday morning, after they all had a good night's rest in Parnell's own home at Avondale House near Rathdrum. As a forestry reserve, Avondale presumably justifies time well spent on their first day in Ireland.

Needless to say, Foley thought his son Anthony had a brilliant game, but he was generous in his praise of Mick Galway and Peter Clohessy.

"They certainly proved one commentator wrong, who thinks they are just 60-minute men," he said. "But both of them went the full distance and the Claw in particular was very clever in slowing the proceedings down at vital moments," he said.