Josh van der Flier said he was "heartbroken" after Leinster's narrow Champions Cup final defeat - but admitted the Blues weren't good enough to beat La Rochelle.
Ronan O'Gara's side claimed a dramatic 27-26 victory at the Aviva Stadium this evening, having been behind 17-0 after just 12 minutes.
It wasn't until the 73rd minute that they hit the front but that was enough to ensure La Rochelle's second final triumph in the tournament - and to deny Leinster a record equalling fifth.
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It is the second year in a row that Leinster have fallen just short against the Top 14 outfit and van der Flier said: "Unbelievably disappointed.
"Such great support, all our family and friends, it’s heartbreaking really.
"Years of work goes into getting a team that’s good enough to get here and it’s incredibly disappointing.
"I have to thank our supporters, they’ve been unbelievable all season an incredible today and I’m sorry we couldn’t do it today.
"We have to give credit to La Rochelle, their third final in a row and they won again today. Unbelievably heartbroken, really.
"It was a good start, we probably struggled in the second half, we didn’t quite get going and they put a lot of pressure on us.
"We weren’t good enough to get it done, very disappointing and we’ll learn a lot but it feels too late now and it’s pretty disappointing."
Leinster finished with 13 men on the pitch, with Michael Ala'alatoa's red card challenge in the 78th effectively ending the Blues' hopes.
"Incredibly proud of the lads, we fought so hard and a few moments didn’t go our way, especially in the second half.
"You have to give a huge amount of credit to so many lads, like Johnny as an example, not there today, who played a huge part in Leinster getting to finals and winning finals over the year.
"I felt we fought really hard and it just wasn’t good enough for today."
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