As soon as the replays hit the big screen, the mood shifted in the Aviva Stadium.
Leinster may have been losing, and there may have been less than two minutes to play, but it looked like they were ready to make a hero out of Ross Byrne.
Twelve months on from falling apart in the Champions Cup final against La Rochelle, they had fallen apart again, only this time they'd given themselves a few minutes to put the pieces back together.
With play stopped for a head injury to George Henri Colombe, Leinster would have a scrum five metres out, and while their own set-piece had been under pressure for much of the game, all it would take was a couple of phases infield before Byrne could drop back into the pocket and hit the winning dropgoal.
And then we saw the replay, with Michael Ala'alatoa running in at pace and shouldering Colombe to the back of the head. It was never going to be anything other than a red card, but regardless of the colour, the reality was that La Rochelle would have the ball. Game over.
While Jaco Peyper had no option but to deliver the red, it's a shame that the greatest Champions Cup final had to end in such a way.
Leinster's three-try haul in the opening 12 minutes was as perfect as rugby could be. At Friday's captain's run, Ronan O'Gara predicted Leinster's attack coach - his former Crusaders colleague Andrew Goodman - would "have something up his sleeve", and after 40 seconds he found out what that 'something' was, a wonderfully clever lineout move that caught the La Rochelle pack cold.
Every element went right for Leinster in that opening period. The stretched La Rochelle's defence, their ball retention was instant, and their kicking was pinpoint.
Their linespeed and aggression in contact was almost uncomfortable to watch. Robbie Henshaw and James Ryan in particular were running into La Rochelle bodies with such abandon that injury either to themselves or others felt inevitable. And so it proved.
The most remarkable aspect of La Rochelle's comeback was that they didn't make drastic changes. They stuck to their plan and kept their composure, while Leinster ultimately lost theirs.
Leo Cullen's side kept producing big plays in defence, only to cancel them out with mistakes. When James Ryan disrupted a La Rochelle maul to win a crucial turnover in his own 22, Jamison Gibson-Park's poor pass was spilled by James Lowe, which gave the French side field position for their opening try a few minutes later.
The theme continued in the second half; Gibson-Park and Lowe each sent kicks out on the full, while the pair also sliced another kick each into touch. Ross Byrne (below), meanwhile, took too long over another clearance which was blocked down and invited further pressure back on Leinster.
"It's hard to sum up, everybody is feeling pretty low at the moment," a dejected Jimmy O'Brien said.
"It's hard to put it into words, we're just very disappointed as a group, disappointment and frustration.
"The second half turned into that arm-wrestle where there was a lot of kicking.
"It was hard to exit our own half. It felt like we were always in the game, and even at the end I was confident we would work the penalty, or work something and I'd no doubt Ross would slot it over. It just didn't happen on the day."
Hugo Keenan (below) was equally devastated after the game when he stopped to speak to reporters, even if he barely had the words left to express himself.
"I'm just gutted," he said.
"The whole dressing room is very disappointed, it was in our control, so we're just a bit down.
"We didn't exit well, we didn't get on the right side of the ref. It's disappointing, isn't it?"
For the opening 65 minutes, Leinster dealt expertly with La Rochelle's attacking maul, winning turrnovers on five separate occasions in that area, but that composed and efficient defence deserted them in the final 15 minutes, conceding three penalties in a row at the maul in the lead-up to the winning try. Indeed, Ala'alatoa probably should have been yellow-carded for two cynical offences before he even got his red.
Had Leinster won, their fifth title would have been pinned on the work of several starting forwards. Dan Sheehan scored two tries, topped the tackle count and came up with two turnovers, Jack Conan was their best ball-carrier, while Josh van der Flier tackled relentlessly, won two turnovers and also held his nerve to throw a vital lineout, which on another day could have provided the platform for a winning score.
James Ryan's absence was felt badly. The Leinster captain had been the dominant force in the game prior to suffering his head injury on 29 minutes, which came ironically as a result of driving Will Skelton backwards in a tackle. A second viewing of the game on Sunday makes us think we short-changed the 26-year-old with a 7.5 in our player ratings.
Jason Jenkins has the size and power to make a big impact in these games, and was recruited specifically to combat the likes of La Rochelle, but never imposed himself on the game. Where Ryan (below) was relentless in pursuit of work, the South African was often passive.
Questions will also be asked of how fit Tadhg Furlong was for the final. The tighthead sat out Friday's captain's run as a precaution, and was withdrawn after just 44 minutes on Saturday, with Leo Cullen confirming afterwards that he was "carrying a bit of a niggle". The 30-year-old looked to be struggling with the pace of the game late in the first half, and his long-running issues with calf injuries are becoming a real concern as we head towards the World Cup.
Leo Cullen will pore over how Leinster allowed themselves to lose from such a dominant position, but the worrying reality is that they've now lost two finals in a row to La Rochelle, having been ahead on the scoreboard for 136 of the 160 minutes.
Two seasons in which they have been considerable favourites to win a double have ultimately ended trophyless, and it's hard to think that the scars of that will heal quickly.
