At the final whistle Matt Williams fell forward, his head in his hands as though there were a hinge at his waste. It was not a time to sell him the idea that life as Leinster rugby coach is a blessed existence. Hard to believe his team had blown a 17point lead, although there was relief that they had not completely surrendered to a side who found wings in the final quarter.

Earlier in the game Williams had been exhorting his team not to weaken, as they had done against Glasgow last season - but at least Leinster won that one.

"I was bitterly disappointed," said Williams last night. "It's the only way I can describe it: Bitterly disappointed at the interpretation that we were receiving from the referee and also disappointed at our own performance right at the death.

"It was a very courageous performance for 99 per cent of the match and considering we hadn't played for so long that was a superhuman effort.

"We knew they'd hang onto possession for long periods of time. I was very frustrated. We had done the work, we'd won the game, we had two points.

"Fatigue finally got to us. It just means we have to do it in Biarritz and that is going to be very hard for us. We had 23 fit players before the game, now Trevor Brennan's shoulder is playing up and Denis Hickie got a whack on the back of the hand."

Hickie, in fact, has broken a bone in his hand and will be out for six weeks. "Yeh, we're in trouble for next week," said Williams, " though I am not ruling Trevor out. I'll have to wait for the medical staff to tell me how serious his injury is."

Emmet Byrne spoke for the entire team: "We are all devastated at the outcome but it was our own fault. We did not do the basics right and we are now paying the penalty.

"A lot of people would have thought that if there was another five minutes we would have lost that match. I can't think of it that way. I think of it as throwing away a really big lead.

"We now have to win next week. We've now put ourselves under huge pressure to win that match in France."