Munster outhalf Ronan O'Gara, the record points scorer and most-capped player in Heineken Cup history, would not be drawn on whether Saturday's semi-final defeat to Clermont Auvergne would be his final outing at this level.
O'Gara had kicked the visitors in an early lead and it was his perfectly weighted grubber kick that teed up Denis Hurley for the only try of the second half.
The raw emotion was etched on the 36-year-old’s face after the final whistle.
“Defeat is extremely hard to take after you have put so much into a game like that. But it is winner takes all in a semi-final,” said O’Gara.
“This is an unbelievable competition and it was an incredible atmosphere. It was a fantastic occasion to be a part of, but the only reason we play is to win.
“There was some serious resilience from Munster and I am proud to be a part of the team. We are growing and getting better as a team, but we gave Clermont too much of a start (leading 13-3 at half-time).
“When we come away from home you ask for character from a team and we certainly showed that — we gave our all.”
Asked about his own playing future, the Corkman added: “It’s not the time for me to be thinking or talking about retirement. I owed it to my team-mates to be totally focused on the game today and I was.
“I love coming to France and playing and this competition have given me the best memories. I will sleep on it until the end of the season.”
Clermont fullback Lee Byrne dubbed it 'the toughest game of our season' for the French side.
Delighted with his side’s progress to the Aviva Stadium final on Saturday, May 18th, their Welsh back Byrne said: “It is a dream come true to finally reach a Heineken Cup final. It was the toughest game we’ve had all season and you’ve got to hold your hands up to Munster for that. They wore the famous red jersey with real pride.
“We fully deserved to come through with the win. We had a few opportunities (to score a second try), but the ball didn’t stick. We got a bit nervy, but hopefully we will come back stronger for the final.
“Whoever we face it will be another very tough challenge. We will do our homework and come out firing,” he added, with Saracens and Toulon meeting in the second semi-final tomorrow at Twickenham.
Another of Clermont's foreign contingent, secondrow Nathan Hines, said the hard-fought win shows how the squad have bounced back from last year's semi-final defeat to Leinster.
“It was a very hard game, especially in the second half when Munster started to get a bit more ball. Fair dues to them, they came back and put us under pressure,” said the former Leinster player.
“Obviously it’s disappointing when you lose (like we did to Leinster last year), especially in the way that we did — Wes (Fofana) got over the line but didn’t manage to get the ball down.
“If you dwell too much on last year you can take one eye off what you want to achieve this year, even though we can draw on the pain we suffered. I think it’s behind us now, and we’re going to chuck everything into the final.”
