RUGBY/European Cup Final:  Destiny didn't call them after all. Instead Groundhog Day did. The nature of the defeat had echoes of the Northampton pack, though more specifically the lineout this time, doing a number on their Munster counterparts. But even from another loaves-and-fishes job, there was a sense that Munster hadn't quite given it their best shot, tinged with a last chance that got away more controversially this time.

In the cold light of day the post-match feeling of outrage and indignation over Neil Back's sly manoeuvre which illegally denied Munster an attacking scrum under the Leicester posts in injury time mightn't be as great. But in the aftermath of the final whistle it was undoubtedly the major talking point.

Some, understandably, lost their perspective. By flicking his hand at Peter Stringer to divert the ball into the Leicester side of the scrum, Back hadn't prevented a likely Munster try, so there was no question of a penalty try. Given what had gone before the odds are that Leicester's defence would have held out anyway.

Nonetheless, Munster are entitled to feel cheated - and there's no other word for it - at not at least finding out whether they had the move and the wit to score a converted try. Back should not only have been penalised but also sin binned, and then Munster would have probably called for a scrum against a seven-man pack. We'll never know now, and that's what grates.

Thus, for all the scorn felt toward Back, some of it should be directed at the match officials. They missed it. Quite what possessed Joel Jutge to go to the blindside of the scrum feed? Knowing that he had done, at such a key juncture in the match, this should have compelled touch-judge Joel Dume to be at his most eagle-eyed.

Monsieur Dume has, at least temporarily, been removed from the International Board panel for merely recommending a yellow card to Rob Dickson when Salvatore Perugini headbutted Stringer in the Ireland-Italy match and was then suspended for six weeks. Here he simply missed it altogether. In fairness, his view might have been slightly obscured by Stringer, and for many watching it needed slow-motion replays to catch Back in the act. But he should be furious with himself.

Stringer, incandescent for the remaining moments of the match, stood motionless on his own as if in a daze after the full-time whistle. "It's something that I've never really come across. The ball was hit out of my hand as I was putting it into the scrum. The referee didn't see it but we were disappointed as a whole losing the final having lost it a couple of years ago. It was one decision that went against us but as a whole it just didn't go our way on the day."

"I thought the touch-judge might have seen it but obviously he didn't. It's one of these things that you don't expect. You automatically assume you'll be allowed to put the ball into a scrum."

No one, ironically, talked about it more freely than Back. "I'm quite at peace with myself. That's part of the professional game. That wasn't the turning point, that wasn't the way we won it. We scored two fantastic tries, so we deserved to win."

He admitted had he been sin binned it would have been a fair cop. "Obviously it was a risk. I weighed it up and fortunately it went our way. I did what I felt was necessary to secure possession for Leicester when we were under extreme pressure at the end and I used all my experience of playing club and international football to ensure we won the game."

"I'm not a cheat," Back continued. "I'm a very committed player and if anyone called me a cheat I would be very upset. I've played first-class rugby for over a decade, you learn things along the way. I don't think you should make a big issue of it. We won the contest and that's what it was all about. I think if you ask any back row player they have all done it in their career. I don't make a habit of it but it was the right thing to do."

Methinks he doth protest too much. Even Back must know this victory and his career will be at least partially soured by this moment. It will have been seen all over the rugby world. Perhaps it was a fitting denouement, for in some ways it defines Leicester, the lengths they will go to for victory, their win-at-all-costs philosophy, their intimidation of referees as well as opponents, their professionalism for want of a better word. (And there must be a better one.)

Is this the kind of thing Munster must be prepared to do to go that extra step? How would we have reacted if David Wallace had done likewise? "If one of our boys had done that, we'd have made him Lord Mayor," ventured one of the Munster contingent.

There was a palpable sense of outrage within Munster's ranks, and frankly if one of Munster's players had done likewise it would have soured the victory. It would have been embarrassing. Certainly it would have been interesting to see the English reaction had the roles been reversed. Could you imagine the opprobrium if, say, Peter Clohessy had done the same thing (which he never has).

This, after all, from the nation that still bleats on about Diego Maradona's "Hand of God" goal 16 years after the event. Back didn't punch the ball into the Munster net, nor did it have the same dramatic effect on the outcome, but what he did was every bit as sly, and every bit as cynical.

Munster coach Declan Kidney, typically, kept his counsel but this incident clearly rankled with him too. Asked if he had any response to Back's self-justification, Kidney took a deep breath, gathered his thoughts and said: "No comment really. No I don't have." Asked if would like to see one of his own players do it, he was quicker to react. "No comment."

It had been a great, life-enhancing odyssey with Munster these past few years, but sometimes sport doesn't hand out justice. "It's heartbreaking really," admitted Mick Galwey. "It's been a great journey, and a great effort, if only to lose a Heineken Cup final twice."

Galwey still believes it is Munster's destiny to reach the mountain top one day. "I might not be around but we've come so far now there's no turning back. Hopefully these experiences have given the younger players the hunger to come back and win it. I said before that maybe you have to lose one to win one, this time I'll say third time lucky."

Yet even if they do, to a degree even they'll feel the timing won't have been quite right.