CIARÁN FRAWLEY’S PERFORMANCE off the bench during Saturday’s Champions Cup final defeat to Bordeaux occurred in an ostensibly dead game, yes, but it will still provoke questions as to whether Leinster have backed the wrong horse — or, at least, left the wrong bolt from the yard — in their out-half depth chart.

Indeed, Leo Cullen was asked during Saturday’s post-match press conference whether he had any regrets over how Frawley’s impending move to Connacht had unfolded, to which Leinster’s head coach responded: “We tried to keep him but he decided to go to Connacht. We wish him well, but yeah, I think he’s had a great season. But that’s… listen, we’ve had players leave before. But, yeah, this one, we were a little frustrated with at the time, but I can’t undo it, unfortunately.”

Frawley has made 23 appearances for Leinster this season but has started in fewer than half of those games. Indeed, the Skerries native, who replaced Harry Byrne at 10 early in the second half at Estadio de San Mamés, last started a Leinster game at out-half 13 months ago, which surely informed his decision to jump ship and seek to nail down the position in Galway.

That Frawley previously worked with Stuart Lancaster at Leinster — who, ironically, didn’t really see him as an out-half — was a huge part of the incentive, as was the assurance of increased game-time for the 28-year-old.

“Yeah, well, you look at what Connacht are building, Stuart Lancaster after coming back – I worked under Stuart for quite a while, an unbelievable coach,” Frawley said on Saturday.

“I have a lot of respect for him, he has a lot of respect for me. I think Connacht are trending in the right direction.

“It came down to, ‘Where am I guaranteed game-time?’ or whatever. And jumping to Galway, that could be it.

“It was a tough decision to make, it is never easy leaving the club you grew up supporting,” Frawley added. “It’s so special to play for Leinster. I’m absolutely chuffed to have the caps I do and if you told me when I was a kid that I was going to have these caps, I wouldn’t believe you.

“So it’s unbelievably special, but it’s also really sad to leave.”

When asked if nailing down a particular position — most likely out-half — was part of the appeal of joining Connacht, Frawley replied: “I think it’s just getting game-time, [that] was the main thing for me.

“Look, I feel like I’m in good form at the minute, I’m getting the game-time now with Leinster. Things are going well towards the end of the season, in terms of the form or whatever, but it was at the time when the conversations were going on, it was just probably the guaranteed game-time more so [which encouraged me to join Connacht].”

While Frawley is excited to move west, his focus will now shift towards Leinster’s attempt to retain the URC, with a quarter-final at home to the Lions to come this Saturday night.

After a couple of uncomfortable days for Harry Byrne in Leinster’s Champions Cup semi-final and final, head coach Cullen may yet turn to Frawley as his starting 10 before he bids his native province farewell.

But wherever he is selected, Frawley is hellbent on ending his nine-year Leinster career with a trophy, particularly after Saturday’s Champions Cup setback — which was his fourth final defeat.

“It was my boyhood club, I grew up supporting Leinster and I love Leinster at the end of the day, so it was always a tough decision to move, but I want to end on a high.

“I said to myself last night, ‘Jesus, what a great way to end if I win the double,’ but sport is just incredibly cruel at times and that’s just not the way it is. Look, we’ll dust ourselves down and get on with the Lions next week.

“It’s going to be knockout rugby now and you don’t want any week to be your last, y’know? And I want to make the most of the time I’ve left with Leinster because Leinster have given me so much.”