Match Reaction: Biarritz

…Biarritz centre Philippe Bidabe hands off John Kelly on the way to setting up Sireli Bobo for the opening try at the Millennium Stadium…

Biarritz coach Patrice Lagisquet: “Maybe we didn’t appreciate the context of this game properly. It was our first final and we were surprised by the passion that the Munster supporters showed. We had worked hard to get this far and we thought we were well prepared. But how do you prepare for that passion, that emotion? It was something most people had never known before.

“Munster knew what to expect and they knew what they needed to do to win. They had been here before and perhaps that showed. They deserved to be here – for years now they have been playing very intelligently. For us, we must learn the lessons of this defeat and put it to good use in the future.”

“Munster had a great presence on the pitch and great impact players. We could not exploit any of their weaknesses because our biggest problem was we couldn’t get fast ball from the forwards.

“We gave away a lot of gifts in the first half, especially Peter Stringer’s try and our kicking game was not what it should have been. But I cannot condemn the players for losing their heads in such a game for the passion was intense.

“Our backs had a misunderstanding but the problem was that Julien Peyrelongue and Sereli Bobo could not hear each other. So we left that corridor open and it was very disappointing because we had been very aware of it before the game. It meant we gave away far too much and cannot complain too much about what happened in the second half. We cannot take anything away from Munster, they played with a high intensity.”

…Biarritz centre Damien Traille collects a high ball under pressure from Munster’s Shaun Payne…

Biarritz captain Thomas Lievremont: “We felt Munster were getting more and more tired towards the end. If we could have forced them into an error, we felt there was an opportunity there for us. But it was too late. Really, we lost the game with the first big defensive error which allowed Munster to score what was a decisive try.

“The Munster fans – they produced so noise. The main crux of the problem for us was that there was so much noise in the ground that it was hard to hear what anyone was saying.”

Biarritz centre Philippe Bidabe: “We knew that there would be a big Munster support and the atmosphere was incredible in the stadium. But that helped to motivate us too.

“A final is always about little details and it turned out that we made a stupid defensive error that we never normally make. It was very difficult to communicate during the match with such noise.

“Munster are deserving winners though and now we’ll hope to bounce back for the semi-finals of the French championship.”

Biarritz scrum half Dimitri Yachvili: “It was one of those 50-50 games you end up winning or losing. The margin is so slim. The defeat is difficult to take, but we made too many mistakes. We made it difficult for ourselves.

“But we lost because Munster were the better team, not because of their fans and the atmosphere. They are a well very organised team, very tried and tested, and they do not give much away to the opposition.”