Friend will be on guard this weekend when Connacht take on Gloucester in a key Heineken Champions Cup clash.

“It was always a tricky spot there. I remember going there for a Captain’s Run the day before a game and in the away changing room all their lineout moves and scrum moves were up on the whiteboard, and you could see the players’ eyes light up.

“And I said: ‘Do not fall for that’ — but some of our players fell for it. It’s the oldest trick in the book. Back then anyway they were cunning enough to be doing that, they probably tricked a few of our younger guys.”

How did the match go? “We didn’t win. It was a Premiership match. We were waiting for moves we had read that were never going to happen.”

Friend knows they face a difficult task against a Gloucester side craving a victory after five losses in a row. Connacht’s opening-round win at home to Montpellier and a gutsy, albeit pointless, tussle in Toulouse means their qualification hopes now hinge on the two Gloucester games.

We are just looking at the first one, Sunday is a crucial one and we reckon we have a team that can go and win that and that’s the intention.

Friend has no new injury concerns, but neither has he any of the casualty list coming back, with scrum-half Kieran Marmion not set to return until the festive inter-pros.

“We are hoping he will be back for the inter-pros, same with Tiernan (O’Halloran).”

Back-rower Eoin McKeon is close to a return.