Joe McCarthy doesn't believe the nature of Ireland's World Cup defeat to New Zealand will lead to lingering regrets.
The 22-year-old lock is among a number of Leinster players who will come back into contention for BKT United Rugby Championship duty as the province prepare to take on the Dragons in Newport on Sunday.
After a mandatory three-week lay-off, Leinster yesterday reported a clean bill of health and said they will assess their international players on a case-by-case basis to determine who's involved over the coming weeks.
Despite an impressive four-game winning streak in the pool stages, Ireland came up short in the quarter-final against New Zealand, bowing out on a 28-24 scoreline.
For some reason, Andy Farrell's side were not able to reach the heights that they hit in wins over Scotland, and in particular, South Africa, who went on to retain their title.
"Every game like that is going to sting and you don't forget it quickly but I don't really think it was a case of a mental block for a quarter-final or anything," McCarthy told RTÉ Sport.
"We weren't on 100% for a big game and if you are like that against quality opposition, it's always going to be tough so I don't think it's much different to another knock-out game really."
For many supporters the World Cup hangover was extended as they had to endure two weeks of watching as England, Argentina, the All Blacks and the Springboks battle on.
McCarthy, who won his fifth cap as a replacement in the loss to New Zealand, admitted it was a difficult period.
"Yeah, I watched the games," he said. "They were definitely tough watching, knowing you could have been there.
"It was definitely a tough period. It's kind of how it is after you lose a big game and you're out of a tournament, you are quite gutted, you probably feel sorry for yourself for a week or so and then you have to turn the page quite quickly and go again.
"For the first week or so I didn't really know what to do with myself.
"The lads are disappointed but there's a good buzz with everyone back in this week [with Leinster] on Monday, a bit of giddiness and everyone is getting back on the same page. It's been all right and looking forward to the season ahead."
Contact skills coach Sean O'Brien says that the Irish contingent have no choice but to "rock on".
"Different people react differently to it," said the former Ireland flanker.
"I think the lads have enough experience now and have been through some disappointments the last few years, [to know] to get back on the horse pretty quickly.
"That's the great thing about sport, you've another opportunity to get it right the next time you play.
"It will be in the back of certain lads' head, I think, that maybe the performance wasn't where it needed to be obviously but they have to rock on and move on pretty quickly because you can't carry stuff around with you like that .
"At international level that's the fine margins, you win some, you lose some. Unfortunately they were on the wrong side of that result."
Watch Ulster v Munster in the URC on Friday from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra
Watch Dragons v Leinster in the URC on Sunday from 1pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player
