Munster captain Tadhg Beirne says he couldn't ask any more of his team-mates, after their season ended with an agonising BKT URC quarter-final defeat to the Sharks.
The sides played out a 24-24 draw after a back-and-forth 100 minutes of rugby in Durban, before the hosts came out on top in a place-kicking competition to book their spot in the semi-finals against Bulls next week.
The defeat marked the end of the Munster careers for Peter O'Mahony, Stephen Archer and Conor Murray, the latter of whom landed a long-range penalty on 77 minutes to send the game to extra time.
It may also be a final Munster appearance for Rory Scannell, who made his 200th appearance for the province this evening. The centre is rumoured to be departing his home province this summer, and if so it will be a devastating way for him to finish up, missing the decisive place-kick in the shootout.
"There's no tomorrow for us this season, and we have to say goodbye to some pretty special characters within this room," Beire said after the game.
"It’s not the way we wanted to finish the season. It’s gutting, but we’ll enjoy each other’s company tonight. That’s our season done this season.
"We’ve spoken about all of them. Rory [Scannell] there as well, and Pete, Murr getting the kick to level it. It’s pure world class, and he’s been at that level his whole career, the same as Archie and Pete and everyone who is leaving.
"It’s going to be a weird place without them, we’ve spoken about it before. They epitomise Munster, they love the club and they put blood, sweat and teams for the club."
Munster looked to be in a commanding position approaching the final quarter when tries for Josh Wycherley and Diarmuid Kilgallen put them 21-10 ahead, but injuries to Wycherley and Diarmuid Barron soon after proved crucial, forcing Munster to bring their starting front rows Niall Scannell and Michael Milne back on for the remainder of the game.
Their scrum had already been in trouble, and it was that area of the game that allowed Sharks back into the tie, as they marched Munster backwards to force multiple penalties.
"We had a hold of the game at one point, and credit to Sharks, they found a way back into it.
"Our scrum is probably a thing that leaked a little bit, but the fight that we showed to not give away as many penalties as they would have expected, the desire from each and every one of the boys to hold out the Sharks in both halves of extra time.
"They're riddled with internationals, they know what they’re doing. Incredible bench to come on, and they just kept punching away at us. We knew they were going to keep coming at us, we knew they would be a tough battle, and we fought to the bitter end," Beirne added.
And the Munster captain reiterated his pride in their performance, as their season came to a bitter end.
"There's nothing more I could ask of the lads. To go to a penalty a shootout, or whatever you call that c**p there, is gutting for us, but that’s the way it goes and that’s the way we lost to the game tonight.
"It could have went either way. We still had opportunities in the second half of that extra time and it doesn't go to hand. If it does, all of a sudden we could be under the sticks.
"It’s a credit to each and every one of these boys who are here, the lads who are back home who prepared us for this game. It’s a game of inches at the end of the day. It’s tough to lose it in the way we did, the penalty shootout."
