Patrice Lagisquet had no interest in masking disappointment in his team's performance at the Millennium Stadium but he did seem resigned to the fates being aligned against them in a Munster-red Cardiff.

While Peter Stringer deserves the plaudits for scampering over on a narrow blindside for a 31st-minute try, it will go down as a soft concession. A huge price to pay considering what was at stake.

The fact is Fijian winger Sereli Bobo left his post to shadow Anthony Horgan. Biarritz captain Thomas Lievremont explained afterwards it was a "malcommunication" between outhalf Julien Peyrelongue and Bobo attributed to the constant din of the Munster hordes. Serge Betsen also missed the Stringer dart as, like his other backrow colleagues, his focus was entirely on disrupting the Munster scrum.

"Munster played with a really high intensity. Our kicking also let us down in the second half when three returning kicks went straight back to Munster players," said Lagisquet. "I also can't condone players for losing their heads in a game. There should have been more support for the ball on the ground. We should have won back more ball on the ground. We were lucky to score a try very early on in the game and then we just kept hitting up the defence. We kept getting ball that wasn't playable.

"The game came down to Munster's kicking and our errors. To concede the first try was very disappointing considering we had put in an enormous effort into defending our line very effectively."

It meant for the first time in the knock-out stages of this year's competition Biarritz were in arrears at half-time.

Much like Munster's first final experience in 2000. Before Saturday, Biarritz had only stumbled in a semi-final. Winning a final is a whole new venture. As Declan Kidney would say: you need to lose more than you win to really appreciate victory when it comes.

Lagisquet also appreciated the lessons to be learned from their opponents' long route to glory. "We lost this game maybe due to a lack of calm and serenity between the team. We worked hard to get this style. Munster had lost two finals, they knew what they needed to do in order to win today. They deserved it after playing so intelligently over the years and throughout the tournament. The semi-final win over Leinster was a fantastic match. We'll learn some lessons and put the experience to some good use for the future."

Dimitri Yachvili certainly didn't let his team-mates down. A constant menace from the base of the ruck he was well marshalled on Saturday but still kicked with assurance, whether at goal or for territory.

"They were very good. They don't make mistakes. They have a lot of experience at this level," he said forlornly before refocusing Biarritz attentions to retaining the French domestic championship.

"It's hard to accept but we will have to accept it in order to recover and to keep our trophy in France."

Did the huge Munster support impinge on the Biarritz flow? "Of course we noticed it, constantly, but we didn't lose because of the number of supporters. (We lost) because we made too many mistakes."