Leinster coach Leo Cullen was left with few answers after his side delivered "our worst performance of the season" in their Guinness PRO12 semi-final defeat by Scarlets.
The province became the first home side to lose a semi-final in the competition's history as the Welsh outfit ran out 27-15 winners, despite playing the entire second half at the RDS with 14 men.
Poor handling and basic errors ensured Leinster's failure to take advantage of their numerical superiority and Cullen struggled to explain why his side failed to deliver in such resounding fashion.
"We felt we were in a reasonably good place going into the game, we just didn't manage the first half well," Cullen to RTÉ Sport.
"A lot of threats we talked about all week that Scarlets posed, if we're loose with the ball and if we give them opportunities, and that's exactly what we did in the first half.
"We knock off a little defensively, we turn the ball over cheaply, we concede three tries and we're chasing the game. Then we lack any level of composure, which is frustrating because we are a good enough team to be able to manage our way back into the game."
The red card shown to Scarlets wing Steff Evans just before half-time for a tip tackle on Garry Ringrose should have given the hosts the impetus to erase an 11-point interval deficit, but Cullen admitted Leinster lacked poise when it mattered most.
"As the half wore on we got ourselves back into the game, but we kept coughing the ball up way too cheaply, guys really forcing things and going off-script," he said.
"We'll need to ask some questions about why we were doing that because it's not something we've had in our game all season and we've almost saved our worst performance of the season for the very end, which is hard to fathom really."
Skipper Isa Nacewa emerged from a shell-shocked dressing-room and bemoaned Leinster's costly error count.
"There's not many words being spoken in there, it's pretty quiet, as you'd expect when you bow out in a semi-final at the RDS and play the way we did," Nacewa said.
"It's 10 times worse to do that in front of your loyal fans, who've followed us home and away all season, to put on that performance in front of them really hurts.
"We talked about believing in our process, and getting the basics right, when you don't do that it makes for a long half.
"We didn't play what was in front of us, we didn't look up and see space and we didn't get the basics right and you can't do that in a semi-final.
"At times it was one unforced error and then another and you just can't get back into the game that way," the Fijian added.
"We really needed to settle down and take a deep breath. That's easier said when the game's finished, but it really did just get away on us.
"Scarlets are one of the best counter attacking sides in Europe and three of our turnovers led to their quick transfer tries. We expected that and they came out and did it, so you have to give them credit."
