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Cardiff Blues will be monitoring the situation over Matthew Morgan following Bristol’s failure to gain promotion to the Aviva Premiership.

The gifted Welsh international is likely to attract the attention of a number of clubs with the West Country outfit having suffered a last-gasp defeat to Worcester in a dramatic Championship play-off final.

He is under contract for another year and Bristol have made it clear they want their contracted employees to stay on board, amid much debate over the future of Blues coaching target Danny Wilson.

But there are suggestions they would grudgingly be willing to negotiate if a club came in and a player - or coach - definitely wanted out.

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It remains to be seen what Morgan wants to do, but he’s likely to be highly sought after, having been named Championship Player of the Year.

A devastating runner who can operate at fly-half or full-back, the former Osprey is a box office talent who would put bums on seats.

He may feel it would improve his international prospects to be playing back in Wales, certainly in comparison with remaining in the second-tier Championship.

The Blues expressed an interest in him 12 months ago after Bristol lost out to London Welsh in the end-of-season play-off and it’s likely they would be keen to acquire his services this time around.

They would see him primarily as a counter-attacking full-back, especially with Joaquin Tuculet returning to Argentina, and would have high hopes for him on the fast artificial Arms Park surface.

It’s possible the Scarlets could be interested in the 23-year-old as well, with outside-half Rhys Priestland leaving for Bath.

Bristol chairman Chris Booy says he would like contracted men such as Morgan to remain on board, but acknowledges the club may need to consider its options.

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“All the players who are contracted, we expect them and want them to stay, and I believe they will,” he said.

“I think the gist of it is that we have contracts and, trust me, if we want them honoured they will be honoured.

“However, if something was in the club’s interests, we would consider our options. But we honour contracts and we expect our players to honour contracts. We have no reason to think those contracts won’t be honoured.”

Morgan is one of a number of Welsh players under contract at Bristol, along with fellow internationals Ian Evans, Ryan Jones, Dwayne Peel and Gavin Henson.

Forwards coach Wilson has two years to run on his deal, but is a prime target for the Blues as they look to appoint a head coach to replace departed Kiwi Mark Hammett.

It remains to be seen whether Bristol would be willing to release the former Dragons, Scarlets and Wales U20s coach early to take up the Arms Park post.

Director of rugby Andy Robinson has been keen to hold on to Wilson and the ex-England boss looks set to stay at the helm despite Bristol having missed out on promotion for a second successive season.

Chairman Booy has moved quickly to dismiss any speculation about Robinson’s future, having spoken at length with majority shareholder Steve Lansdown the morning after the one-point aggregate defeat to Worcester.

“There is absolutely no need to panic,” he said.

“We are still on our three-year plan to get promotion, which is what we agreed with Andy when we recruited him. We have already started planning how we ensure we are promoted next season.”

Asked if he expected Robinson to be at the helm come the autumn, Booy said: “Absolutely. He is contracted.

“He is hurt and he is grieving, like all of us, because a lot of responsibility is on him, as it is with me.

“He feels he has let me and Steve Lansdown down, as well as the supporters. But I have reassured him that he has done his best, the team have done their best, and we have moved forward.

“We are now a Premiership side playing in the Championship and we have improved dramatically in the last 12 months.

“We will continue to move forward next season. We have made signings and we will continue to strengthen the team. That is our strategy and that will continue throughout the summer.

“There is no debate Andy Robinson will be here. No debate. He is contracted and he wants to do it. We are all disappointed, of course we are, but we signed Andy with a three-year plan in mind and we have just finished the second year.”

Booy added: “The reality is that we have developed and moved forward dramatically in the last 12 months.

“If you look at the team that lost to London Welsh a year ago, and the team and squad we have now, we have come an awful long way.

“There were two Premiership teams in this division this season – and there is no disgrace in losing by one point against that competition.

“Last year’s result was unacceptable – this time we did our best, and I thought we were the better team. We had been the better team over the season, because we won the league.

“But over the two legs, it came down to one point – one penalty that hit the post, one refereeing decision, however you choose to look at it. But there is no disgrace in that, and our players and coaches performed magnificently.”