It may have come as somewhat of a surprise that Connacht left Bundee Aki and Finlay Bealham out of the squad for last Saturday's Investec Champions Cup loss at Lyon.
Pete Wilkins’ side had picked up just one point from two games, a try-bonus in their round two defeat at Saracens.
That left them petering on the brink of elimination and the failure to return from the Matmud Stadium de Gerland without adding to their tally sees them sit rock bottom of Pool A.
Both Ireland internationals were fully fit and Connacht’s medical update on Monday clarified that the centre and prop will be back in the squad for Friday’s showdown against Pat Lam’s Bristol at the Sportsground after they "missed the game in Lyon through the IRFU player management programme".
Given what was on the line, it prompted former Ireland winger Luke Fitzgerald to call it "wrong, just plain wrong" and "madness, absolute insanity" on The Left Wing.
Coaches in the Irish system can be quite circumspect on exact details around the programme and it was refreshing to hear Wilkins explain the reasoning behind his decision.
"It’s certainly well thought out in advance," he told RTÉ Sport.
"The way it works is we have a really clear guide from the IRFU in terms of the amount of games they can play in any given block of the season.
"That’s stipulated ahead and we are totally aligned with that.
"It’s then, more or less, up to us how we use them. You can look at the fixture list, that goes into a large part of it but you also have to look at the amount of minutes they’ve played over the previous weeks.
"I suppose you are monitoring them live to see how the bodies are holding up, in some cases, how their minds are holding up.
"You don’t want to run them into the ground either, for us or to send them on international camp.
"It’s a tricky one for us because, on reflection, that’s a game we would have loved to have both of them and used both of them.
"You weigh it up, you are weighing it up against possibly a really important game against Bristol, which it is now for different reasons.
"You are weighing it up against using them in some URC interpros where you certainly doesn't want to be going into them without them.
"For me in that medium-term picture, there’s not really a good time to de-load them.
"With the Finlay piece, you’ve got somebody as capable as Jack Aungier sitting in the wings ready to start with the form he’s been in. That balancing out the risk of not playing him and then you lose Jack Aungier on the morning of the game to illness.
"All of a sudden it looks like a really bad decision. With the benefit of hindsight there’s all sorts of different ways of doing it.
"That’s my decision as to how we use that and we align with the IRFU and the players."
If Connacht are to continue their European journey they will realistically need to take five points from Bristol while ensuring the Bears, surprisingly beaten at home by the Bulls last weekend, leave with nothing. Saracens are at home to Lyon.
Wilkins also reflected on the possibility that failing to get into fifth position would allow his squad to fully focus on the BKT URC where they currently sit in ninth place.
"Last year when we didn’t progress from the Challenge Cup, we were only reflecting on the journey back from France that probably the freshness and the focus it gave us was for the rest of the URC campaign," added the 44-year-old.
"I think we did get a positive return on that because we weren’t trying to compete on two fronts.
"This year I think we’ve got the depth of squad on paper to be competing in what will hopefully be the Challenge Cup and also the URC.
"But all you need is a run of injuries in any one position.
"Look at the back-three players we’ve got out at the minute. We’re trying to be creative there in terms of who we’ve used and when. That’s when you don’t mind just having one competition to focus on but the bottom line is were ambitious, we want to progress in Europe.
"We hoped it would be the Champions Cup, now it’s up for grabs with the Challenge Cup. We still want to achieve. We’d much rather be fighting on two fronts than just the one.
"We’ve got to make sure we put that into place this Friday night."
Meanwhile, Caolin Blade (above) is available after coming through the return to play protocols, and Tiernan O’Halloran has recovered from a foot injury he sustained against Leinster in early December.
Cathal Forde will resume training this week after a shoulder issue that caused him to miss the Lyon game, and his availability for Friday will be assessed during the week.
Aungier continues to be monitored following an illness that ruled him out of the game in Lyon, while Dylan Tierney-Martin suffered a neck injury during the warm-up and is undergoing further investigation.
John Porch (knee), Shane Jennings (ankle) and Oisin McCormack (thigh), while continuing to rehab are Paul Boyle (face), Santiago Cordero (knee), Diarmuid Kilgallen (hamstring), Sean O’Brien (foot) and Colm Reilly (ankle) all remain out.
