Leinster lick their wounds

Leinster 14

And to his credit he was brutally honest. "I don't think our performance was down to nerves or over expectation. We just didn't play well enough," Hickie said with a shrug of the shoulders.

"I don't think it was a game that was slipping away from us. It was a game I think that wanted to be taken by the scruff of the neck by us and that's what we didn't do.

"We just kept Perpignan out rather than let the game slip away. I don't think they ever pulled away from us, even when they scored their try there was still time to get back into it. I think that was the kind of thing for the whole day.

"If we could have got more than a score ahead of them I think it was one of those games we could have shut out. It's down to us that we didn't."

What he didn't subscribe to, though, was the view that Leinster's path to a Lansdowne Road final on May 24 should have been considered a pre-ordained procession.

"It's dangerous to assume that because the draw's fallen in a certain way and there's a potential final in Dublin that you have a right to be in that final.

"I think that was the kind of talk for the week in other quarters but although we didn't think that way we will look back on it well aware that this was a good chance to do well in the competition.

"Not that reaching the semi-final isn't doing well in the competition but I think if we are honest with ourselves, a place in the final wasn't beyond us. It's disappointing we didn't take the opportunity that was there for us."

Hickie's coach Matt Williams was more forthright in his criticism of the hype surrounding the semi-final.

"Rugby's got a great habit of coming around and biting you on the backside just when you think you've got it sorted out," he said.

"But I have to say I disagreed completely with the reading of the media on the Irish teams over the last couple of weeks.

"These are class teams and playing for their lives. There were two Irish teams and two French teams so it should have been 50-50 either way and I think we assume too much sometimes."

He was also prepared to admit his side just hadn't performed on the day.

"We lost our patterns there a little bit at times and when we came out for the second half they dropped a nice field goal.

"Just after that we started to get our patterns back, kicked a penalty and scored a nice try. But we just weren't getting the ball we needed at our set plays.

"And off the scrum they were getting bent arms on everything, so instead of us attacking just their back defence there were 15 defenders there the whole time and they were never back 10 metres off any of them. Therefore our platform, our ability to get into the game was greatly reduced.

"Just twice we got the chance to run and one of them was our try. But our error rate was way too high right through the entire fixture and you can't do that at this level. It just happened it was the biggest day of the year for us and it was the day we didn't perform."

On O'Meara's kicking return of two successes from seven attempts, Williams excused his scrum-half, citing the swirling Lansdowne wind.

Brian missed a couple out wide, he kicked a nice long one and then hit the one in front. He missed some wide ones but it wasn't an easy day for kickers, you know. Manny (Edmonds) struggled a bit out wide as well."

The one Irishman who was smiling was former Irish international schoolboy, now Perpignan and Canada number eight Phil Murphy.

"People didn't think we'd get out of our group but we did. They didn't expect us to win in Llanelli but we did and we weren't given a chance against Leinster here at Lansdowne Road.

"So we're delighted to upset the odds all over again. I'm delighted to be coming back to Dublin next month, but I'm probably the only French player to think that," Murphy said.

"I still have lots of family here and to me Lansdowne Road is a mythical venue and it's great to be playing here."

LEINSTER: G Dempsey, D Hickie, B O'Driscoll (N Spooner, 66), D Quinlan, G D'Arcy, C Warner, B O'Meara (B O'Riordan, 74); R Corrigan captain, S Byrne, E Byrne, L Cullen, M O'Kelly, E Miller (A McCullen, 66), K Gleeson, V Costello.

PERPIGNAN: J-M Souverbie, P Bomati, P Giordani, C Manas, F Cermeno, M Edmonds, L Loustau (J Basset, 66); N Mas, M Konieckiwicz (M Dal Maso, 62), S De Besombes (A Moreno, 80+), J Thion (C Porcu, 74), R Alvarez-Kairelis, G Le Corvec (L Mallier, 74), B Goutta captain, P Murphy (J Daniell, 66).

Referee: N Williams (Wales).