Another headache for Andy Farrell as Bundee Aki left out in the cold by Connacht

Yet with two words, Andy Friend opened a can of worms on Saturday. The Ireland centre is fit and available, he’s just not getting picked for his province and with Cathal Forde shining in the No 12 shirt for the second successive week, there’s every chance the Ireland star will be watching from afar when they go to Newcastle next weekend.

That Aki has played only five times for Connacht this season is largely down to his lengthy ban early in the campaign, but he’s been lightly raced since coming back.

Friend pointedly praised non-playing members of the squad for coming to support his side against Brive, but it’s understood that Aki was not among their number.

Asked if the centrally contracted midfielder would be back next week, Friend simply said: “He’s training”.

Normally, the Connacht coach is an effusive answerer of questions but he wasn’t going to expand beyond that.

Whether the reason behind Aki’s absence is fitness-related or down to an attitude issue, it will  be concerning to Andy Farrell who is set to be without Robbie Henshaw for the opening games of the Guinness Six Nations.

Stuart McCloskey started all three games in November and looks likely to hold on to the No 12 shirt as it stands.

With Aki joining fellow centrally contracted stars Conor Murray and Keith Earls, who are also out in the cold at Munster, it’s not an ideal situation and presents the Ireland coach with a big decision ahead of Thursday’s squad announcement.

The problem for Aki is that Connacht produced an expressive, accurate performance in his absence and, after winning the man of the match award on his first start against the Sharks last week, 21-year-old Forde barely put a foot wrong.

“Fordey has been brilliant hasn’t he?” Friend said. “David Hawkshaw was outstanding up until his injury. Then you bring Fordey in and he just looks so calm out there. He carries hard, he kicks well, he tackles very, very well, and he works his backside off so that’s what you want in your 12, you want someone able to do that.”

One plus for Farrell was the performance of Mack Hansen at No 15, albeit the calibre of opposition meant everything came with an asterisk as they ran in nine tries and Alex Wootton scored a hat-trick in their 61-5 win over Brive.

Saturday’s trip to Newcastle will ask them a lot more questions and will also have major implications for the rest of Connacht’s campaign.

If they can secure a win, then they’ll have a high seeding for the round of 16 and could guarantee home advantage for as long as they stay in the knockouts. The higher the seeding, the more they can avoid the four teams dropping down from the Champions Cup.

With a Dublin final on the horizon, there’s a real opportunity for Friend’s side who are also gunning for top eight in the United Rugby Championship during a busy run-in.

“We need to finish this competition well and we’ll see where we are this time next week,” Friend said after his side had ensured they’ll be in the draw for the knockouts.

“We said from the outset we want to make the (URC) play-offs we want to make the knockout stages. Now it’s about making that in the best possible position so we know we have got a lot to play for next week.

“Everyone knows home ground advantage. We have two losses here this year which is probably enough.​

“We have got a great supporter base and when we are here it definitely gives the boys a lift. So if we can get them all here it would be fantastic.

“Newcastle will be a tough opposition to beat over there. But we’ll be heading over there full of confidence.”