Leo Cullen admitted his side were guilty of letting Bordeaux-Begles score "cheaply" as Leinster fell to yet another Investec Champions Cup final defeat.
Bordeaux joined La Rochelle, Toulouse and Saracens in delivering final heartache for the province as they retained their crown in devastating fashion with a 41-19 victory.
Yannick Bru's side produced a first half for the ages as they racked up five tries for a 35-7 lead from which they would never look back.
While Leinster started brightly with a Tommy O’Brien try, it came after 19 phases under the Bilbao heat, they overplayed at times which left them looking tired on defence. Two quick breakaway tries before the break put Bordeaux out of sight.
"We've given away things just a little bit cheaply," Cullen (below) said of their first half collapse.
"On one hand, it's an amazing thing to be part of, but on the disappointing side, I think there's frustration there that we've created lots of opportunities in the game and haven't been anywhere near as clinical as we would have liked to have been.
"On the upside of that, you've got to say a massive well done to Bordeaux, because they have been insanely clinical in everything that they did in scoring five tries in the first half. We scored three tries in the game, we've lots of possession during the game, lots of territory during the game, but we're just nowhere near clinical with what we had.
"And they made us pay, they made us really pay. So that's the bit that we reflect on probably most."
Their fifth final defeat was considerably different to the previous four.
On those occasions they went out on their shields, with late drama swinging their losses to Toulouse and La Rochelle, while the 2019 final defeat to Saracens slowly slipped out of reach.
This evening in Bilbao, Cullen had to watch on as his side threw everything at Bordeaux as they searched for consolation scores, with the game over long before we reached the championship minutes.
"It's unfortunate the game just got away from us a little bit in the first half," Cullen added.
"There's lots of great stuff in terms of trying to get back into the game, and we scored a couple of good tries in the second half, and we still left so many opportunities out there.
"It's a pressure cooker out there. It's very frustrating, because you want to give a better account of yourselves, don't you, because you want to be with that ruthless mindset in terms of execution, where we're just not quite there.
"They [Bordeaux] haven't had an easy run to the final, beating Bath, Toulouse the Bulls away, so they've shown that again at certain stages.
"But we just let the score get away from us a little bit in the first half."
It’s worth noting that this is now six French Champions Cup winners in a row, as the Top14’s dominance over the rest grows even greater.
But Cullen says he still believes his province can get back to the top of European rugby.
"It’s not like we’re a million miles away. I know there’s a decent gap in the scoreline today but I think if you reflect upon on what’s gone on in the game, the stats in the game, that would maybe be a bit of a reflection in terms of how clinical Bordeaux were.
"The speed with the way they do things is very impressive. That’s the bit we need to get after. The speed of the way the game is.
"It’s something that we need to reflect on and take stock. How do we move forward as a group? What do we really want to chase down because, listen, we weren’t good enough today.
"Unfortunately when you sit here on the losing side, you've clearly just not been good enough on the day. And that's something we need to reflect upon and get better at for the future.
"Can we get better at it and go on and try to win the URC? Let's hope so. Can we get better to get to another final and win another final in this competition next season?
"That's quite a long way down the track, isn't it? But that's what everyone's at all of the time. Nothing stays the same forever in sport, does it?"
