Parisse: Better side won
There was another dose of European disappointment for Sergio Parisse and his team, but the Stade Francais Paris captain paid handsome tribute to Leinster following their 34-13 victory at the RDS.
Two years ago Stade lost by a point against Harlequins and overall this was their fourth European Final defeat.
"This is the second one in three years in this tournament but I hope the young team grows from this," said the inspirational No.8 and Italian captain.
"Of course if Leinster won it was because they were the much stronger side and naturally we are very disappointed.
"They scored three tries in first half from things we had worked on during the week but Leinster played very well and were very smart.
"They took that early lead and it was very difficult to try and come back from that.
Coach David Auradou declared his side had been "smacked in the first half on things we could have avoided.
"When as a coach and want to have all your players available but that is not an excuse for us to hide behind.
I agree with Sergio that Leinster totally deserved to win but we also lost the game and that really hurts
"It was a good summary of our season – we caused trouble for Leinster in some areas but we did not take our opportunities but that is life at this level.
"We have learnt more lessons but it was not all negative.
"We won a lot of possession but failed to score and at times we played like novices.
"It is easy when you are behind a video so we do not want to blame the young players at all – they are the future of the club."
