Andy Friend recalls Gloucester playbook decoy

Connacht coach Andy Friend won’t be paying much heed to any misplaced opposition tactics he might find in Gloucester this weekend after the Harlequins team he led fell victim to “the oldest trick in the book” at Kingsholm a decade and a half ago.

Friend, who coached Harlequins from 2005-08, said his players fell for the ruse when Gloucester’s lineout and scrum tactics were apparently left on a whiteboard for them to see the day before a game at Kingsholm.