Final losses 'part of trying to do great things' - Ryan
After the devastation of losing a third Investec Champions Cup final in three seasons, Leinster co-captain James Ryan said aiming high and failing is "part of trying to do special things".
The Irish province were beaten by Toulouse at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday with the now six-time European champions prevailing 31-22 after extra-time in a brilliant final.
After also losing to La Rochelle in the deciders of the past two seasons, and to Saracens at the same stage in 2019, Leinster have now lost four finals since last lifting this trophy in 2018.
"What we said in the changing room was when you want to achieve great things, you always have the risk of failing greatly as well," said Ryan.
“Would I rather be in a team that tries to be the best team in Europe every year and risks feeling like this? I still would.
“That’s part of trying to do special things but, as I said, you run the risk of feeling like this. That’s the way it is."
Ciaran Frawley's drop goal attempt in the 79th minute could have won it for Leinster in regulation, while they were within three points and had a man advantage at the halfway point of extra time after Toulouse's Richie Arnold had been sent off.
The French side, however, regained the momentum and scored the game's final six points through the boot of Thomas Ramos.
“Everyone’s devastated in there now, they poured a hell of a lot into it,” said Leinster's head coach Leo Cullen.
“I think it’s two very good squads of players going at it in an amazing stadium and it comes down to the finest margins.
“There’s a drop goal at the end and if it goes a metre to the right we’re having a very different conversation in here.
“That’s the nature of sport at the top and obviously we’ve been on the losing side, unfortunately, on a few occasions now.
“You get this narrative that builds off the back of that. People start adding all the different bits together, but when you break down this specific game it came down to very tight calls at different stages and not enough of them went our way, unfortunately."
'Need to see what we're all made of'
Leinster have just a six-day turnaround before they are back in United Rugby Championship [URC] action, taking on Connacht in Dublin on Friday night.
Third in their domestic league, which they have not won since 2021, Cullen said his side must now "move onto the next challenge".
"That's the thing around the character part,” he added.
“We need to see what we're all made of now, as hard as that will be.
“We've got to be able to process that and move onto the next challenge because we've got a game on Friday night at the RDS against Connacht, so they won't make life any easier for us.
“It's a very short turnaround and there was 100 minutes of rugby out there for a lot of guys. We'll make some calls and get on with it.
"We have a home quarter-final the week after that and that's what we need to get our head around in the short term.
"It's another opportunity to win a trophy. You can see how competitive the URC is now so that's it. We've got to turn the page at some point in the next few days."
