Caelan Doris says Leinster must stick together after their latest Investec Champions Cup heartbreak.
The province saw their hopes of a fifth title blown apart by the Northampton Saints at Aviva Stadium yesterday, with the Premiership side defying the odds to win 37-34 in one of the tournament's all-time great semi-finals.
It’s the latest devastating loss for Leo Cullen’s side, who have only lost five games across the last five campaigns, two of which were semi-finals, with three defeats in the decider.
"Stay tight. The journey is not over yet," was the message Doris had for his players on Saturday evening.
"It’s gutting. A lot of disappointment in the changing room as you can imagine."
While Northampton were the better side on the day, Leinster had multiple opportunities in the final five minutes to win the game.
On 75 minutes and three points behind, they turned down a shot at goal from a penalty in favour of going for the corner only to get turned over following the lineout, while they also had a tap-and-go penalty five metres from the Saints line inside the final minute.
'Absolutely gutted….massive disappointment, but credit to the Saints' – Leinster captain Caelan Doris reflects on a sobering semi-final defeat
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But having allowed Northampton score four tries and 27 points in the opening half, Doris says his side simply left themselves with too much to do after the break.
"We didn't start the way we wanted, quite a few opportunities that we didn't take, but you’ve also got to credit them. They came out absolutely firing in their attack, which is one we respected massively.
"It cut us up. We weren't good enough defensively, we weren’t good enough at taking our opportunities of which there were ones there for us at the end, and in the first 10 minutes.
"There’s going to be a lot of lessons to learn, and a lot of deep diving.
"They won quite a few of the kick battles in that first half and capitalised on them well. We said at half time that we were going to leave the first half behind us, and it would be very much 'next moment’.
"We left each other too, much to do, and they stayed in the fight."
While the province’s wait for a Champions Cup title will move into an eighth season, they can still set their sights on silverware for the first time since 2021 with the URC.
Eight clear at the top of the table with two regular season games to play, Leinster are likely to have home advantage all the way to the final, should they get there.
And head coach Leo Cullen has called on the squad to channel all of their energy into finishing the season with a trophy.
"What can we control now? Unfortunately, I'd love to be sitting here and talking about getting ready for a final in Cardiff," Cullen said.
"Now we're getting ready to win the URC. That's it. It's a singular focus.
"So, we need to turn that desire, that desperation to win the Champions Cup into the URC. That's what we really need to make the decision as a group that it's where we want to go.
"We'd love to be getting ready for a final, we'll be watching on with absolute envy realistically. How else could you put it?
"For the people leaving, for the people who support us...We need to do those people justice as well, so the beauty of where the group has got us in the URC competition, we're sitting top by three points, we beat Zebre and we have a home run through the competition. There's no guarantees with any of that.
"I admired Northampton last year, because they lost a semi-final and what did they do? They dusted themselves off, learned lessons and won the Premiership.
"We need to dust ourselves off, get ready for two URC games and then try to get through a sequence of knockout games."
