Caelan Doris says their chastening Champions Cup final defeat to Bordeaux-Begles hasn't dented his belief that Leinster can get back to the top of European rugby.
The province were soundly beaten in Saturday’s decider in Bilbao, giving up 35 unanswered first-half points in their eventual 41-19 defeat.
Ominously for the URC and Premiership’s best, this is now the sixth consecutive French winner of the Champions Cup, while Leinster have now lost four finals in a row to Top14 opposition.
And with that in mind, Doris was asked if he believes the prospect of becoming European champions for the fifth time will only get harder and harder moving forward.
"I don't think so," the Leinster captain replied, although he spent several seconds considering the question.
"I still believe massively in the structures we have and the people we have in charge and the ability within the group.
"Like I mentioned earlier on, I admire the work that everyone has put in to get us back to this point again.
"Obviously, we're on the wrong side again as well but I do believe that we've got the right people in the right places and the right systems in order to get back there next year."
As for the game itself, the number 8 believes it was won and lost at the gainline.
Leinster had looked to slow down the famous Bordeaux attack through their breakdown work, but as Doris admits, their inability to win the initial collisions meant their chances to slow the French attack down were few and far between.
"We've obviously scouted them thoroughly over the last few weeks and seen what they can do with quick ball, the pace they have, the varying skillset they have, their ability to capitalise on any sort of an overlap, and you've got to slow their ball down with a proper contest. We didn't have that contest in the first half.
"It's a bit of a cycle that you can get into. If they get one quick ball, they're on top again and again and again.
"I mentioned the pace, but they've also got a very strong carrying forward pack, so we've got stuck in a bit of a negative loop of allowing them quick ball, quick ball, quick ball, and they're away."
Bordeaux’s ability to puncture the Leinster defence in early phases meant they were able to score tries without necessarily dominating possession.
On a scorching day in Bilbao, that extra energy was used in defence where they forced Leinster into phase after phase until they made an error.
Doris, however, wouldn’t take the conditions as an excuse.
"It was a factor, but there was plenty of things within our control that we could have done a lot better.
"I mean, the heat was the same for them. They aren't far from here. They were going to be pretty more used to it, but there were plenty of things we could have done better."
The province will have to pick themselves up off the canvas quickly, with a URC quarter-final against the Lions to come next Saturday as they look to salvage their season.
And Doris declared his team would put everything into what they hope will be three more games of the campaign, in the hope of finishing with some silverware.
"I admire the resilience of the group to keep knocking. I remember James Ryan said two years ago, that when you strive to do great things and be in the latter stages of the tournament, you also risk being on the other side and feeling these emotions.
"We've got a lot of strength in the group to keep coming back, to keep working hard during the season to get to these stages, and I've got faith that we're going to do the same again.
"There's still an opportunity to get silverware, as Leo [Cullen] just mentioned there, and the support of our fans, we'll need them over the coming weeks.
"There are guys like Lukey [McGrath], a few unique figures, who are leaving us at the end of the season. That was a big motivation for us today and we’ll roll into this week coming and do it for those guys," he said.
