The Irish province were denied a fifth European star as Stade Rochelais scored a last-gasp try to win 24-21 at Stade Vélodrome.

Cullen applauded his players’ commitment to the cause but conceded that they didn’t do enough to close out the game during the second half, having led by eight points at one stage.

“You can’t fault the effort,” he said. “There’s bits in the game we don’t quite execute at different stages. Different parts of our game which put us under a little bit more pressure, undue pressure.

“That’s what you expect in this type of game anyway. It’s high stakes, high pressure, against a French team, away in France.

“We know it’s not easy. But there’ll be some good learning, for some of the younger guys in particular, for the future because we’re always desperate to win this tournament, properly desperate.

“At 18-10 we look like we’re in control, it was a couple of little decisions, the bounce of the ball. It’s fine, fine margins.

“We’d love to have a crack at it again, but you don’t get those second chances in finals, do you?”

Captain Johnny Sexton slotted six penalties as Leinster regularly opted to kick for the posts, and although he stuck by the calls made on the pitch, he admitted that pushing for a try may have led to a different result on the evening.

“It was tough to take,” he said. “There were a lot of things that didn’t go our way in the last 30 minutes when we were in control of the game. That’s the devastating bit.

“We had plenty of chances to score. Maybe we should have been a bit more aggressive and gone for tries on a couple of those penalties.

“We decided to take the threes and keep the scoreboard ticking over. Hindsight’s a great thing. Everyone's experts in hindsight. We made the decisions, and we were in control.”

A couple of different decisions would have seen Leinster Rugby lift the Heineken Champions Cup on Saturday, according to head coach Leo Cullen.