Craig Casey says Munster can't dwell on their St Stephen's Day defeat to Leinster, as they prepare for another crucial Interpro on Sunday against Ulster.
The 20-19 loss against the eastern province leaves Munster in 11th place in the BKT United Rugby Championship table, and although they're only one point back from the playoffs and Champions Cup qualification, several of their top eight rivals have one, if not two games in hand over Graham Rowntree's side.
While Monday's loss against Leinster was a 10th defeat out of 11 against their big rivals, and fourth in a row at Thomond Park, the province looked a lot closer to Leo Cullen's side than in any of their recent meetings.
However, the frustration of how they gave away a 14-6 lead to trail 20-14, all while Leinster's Max Deegan was in the sin-bin, far outweighed the positives, according to the scrum-half.
"It is no consolation now just after the defeat," he said of the losing bonus-point.
Having fallen 20-14 behind, they got themselves back within a score heading into the final quarter of an hour when Patrick Campbell dived over in the corner, but failed to land a shot on Leinster in the last 15 minutes, much to the frustration of Casey.
"We were attacking at one stage around the 50 and then we knock on a ball. Jamie Osborne, in fairness, throws an unbelievable offload and I don't think we got out of our 50 from there on in, so obviously hugely frustrating.
"They are the moments that we need to be better at. We will look at that and see what we could have done better and learn from it. I mean that is all you can do now. We can't change the result right now, but we can only get better."
And Casey (above), who impressed off the bench at Thomond Park, says the players will be their own biggest critics when they review the game.
"It is tough. You get in your little groups, your player groups and you kind of dissect what has happened.
"We came into the changing room, the coaches and Wig [Rowntree] talked. I think everything was said, it is a hard one, like. You get close but that is never enough.
"We will come in [this week] and look at what learnings we can take. I think we do that every week and you can see the progress that we are making.
"It was my first experience of a St Stephen's Day fixture in front of a full capacity crowd, it's unreal. Between both sides the atmosphere was special. Leinster fans came down, Munster fans are always there.
"Class to play in front of, you can talk about the atmosphere all you want, but you want the result at the end of the day."
While the meeting with Ulster on New Year's Day is their last Interpro of the regular season, Rowntree's side face a real challenge if they're to secure Champions Cup rugby for next season, particularly with their South African tour still to come, where they will face Stormers and Sharks.
And Casey says with so much riding on their game in Belfast, they can't afford to feel sorry for themselves.
Every interpro is huge. You see how much it means to both teams.
"Going up to Ulster is always a huge scalp. We will look forward to it.
"You've got to turn the page quickly these days because they are coming thick and fast and every game is massive, like you said, they are all must-wins.
"Every week you put the pressure on yourself, don't you, to get better and perform. With interpros there is always an extra bit of pressure on you but they are the moments you live for.
"I mean if we had won that game tonight, the pressure is nothing really, you show you can play under pressure. We lost by a point, but the pressure is there every week. You put youself under that pressure as a player. I don't think anyone else puts you under that pressure."
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