Andy Friend is hopeful that scrum-half Kieran Marmion will not be lost to Connacht and Ireland following his surprised World Cup omission.
But he says he understands the depth of disappointment that the 27-year old felt when he didn’t make the plane to Japan.
Saracens are understood to be leading the chase to sign Marmion, who is out of contract at the end of the season and who is now weighing up his options after his World Cup snub by Joe Schmidt.
“Yeah that was a real blow,” admitted Friend.
“He had four years of planning and believing that he was going to be there. It didn’t work for him. Selection didn’t go his way.
“He is definitely trying to process all of that, and continues, and will continue to process all of that.
“Whatever decision he makes we will respect him for that but hopefully it will be to stay here at Connacht.
“That is Kieran’s decision. He knows that we don’t want him to leave. He is very aware that Ireland don’t want him to leave too.
“Every man makes his own decisions. At the end of the day he will make a call.
“We will certainly be very disappointed if he did but we have seen that happen previously.”
Nights like Saturday’s thrilling win over the Cheetahs might help persuade Marmion to remain at the Sportsground.
Marmion made his first start of the season and crowned it by scoring for the third game in a row as Connacht snatched a dramatic winner with the clock four minutes in the red.
The hero was replacement centre Tom Farrell, who played like a man possessed when he came on to barge over for two tries and end Cheetahs’ perfect start to the season which saw them rack up 15 points from three home games in Bloemfontein.
Connacht might have hoped for typical conditions of wind and rain at the Sportsground to bring the South Africans down to earth, but they created their own storming finish on a benign evening to chalk up their third win in four.
Farrell crashed over for his second try in the final play four minutes into the clock in the red when they opted for a scrum from a penalty in front of the posts despite being three points down.
But it paid off as Connacht thwarted the South Africans in a great match.
Connacht led 14-5 at the break with the impressive winger Niyi Adeolokun scoring and then creating one for Marmion, but Cheetahs hit back in the second-half as Rhino Smith scored his sixth of the season and Clayton Blommetjies raced through to score a converted try to lead 22-14 after 63 minutes.
But then centre Dries Swanepoel was sent off for a head tackle on Caolin Blade. Connacht went to the corner and a fired-up Farrell scored to cut the gap before he snatched a thrilling win at the death.
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