Leinster coach Michael Cheika will prepare his side for a 'final' when they take on Wasps next month.
Leinster ready for winner-takes-all clash with Wasps in January
Leinster coach Michael Cheika will prepare his side for a 'final' when they take on Wasps in their Heineken Cup clash next month after falling to a narrow defeat in Castres.
The Irish side suffered a first loss of the competition this season to scupper their chances of sealing a quarter-final berth.
A defeat against the bottom side in Pool Two now gives Wasps the chance to close the gap to within two points at the top of the group with a bonus point win against Edinburgh on Sunday.
That would set-up a huge clash with the Guinness Premiership side on January 17, which will take place at Twickenham and effectively be a straight fight for a quarter-final place.
Leinster scored two tries on their first trip to Stade Pierre Antoine through Girvan Dempsey and Jonathan Sexton but, although Castres failed to get over the line, six penalties from Anthony Lagardere handed the French side only a fourth win from 16 games this season.
Mistakes
"We gave away too many free-kicks, we didn't play well at the ruck and they were pouring numbers in at the ruck," said Cheika.
"We needed to commit more numbers at the ruck and we got penalised heavily at that area and it cost us.
"We didn't play well tonight, we didn't have nearly enough field position and we didn't kick very well. We took our tries well though.
"It's a shame the winning run is at an end but now we cannot afford to have another loss, so (the Wasps game at Twickenham) is a straight shoot-out. It's a final almost."
The reigning Magners League champions enjoyed a superb 41-11 win over Wasps at the RDS in October, but have been inconsistent since and Cheika knows they need to improve to beat them again.
"We've got to take charge the next time (the Heineken Cup) comes around - get better and more solid in the pressure moments.
"We've got to get back to the level we showed in the first two rounds in Europe, and make sure by the time that we get to that Wasps game we're in a really competitive state because that's a really important match."
Comeback
Former England international Phil Christophers played on the left wing for Castres and praised his team's second half fightback.
"The first 20 minutes there was pressure on us and we weren't playing to our strengths," Christophers said.
"But in the second half, we were more aggressive, we tackled and tackled and we got the crowd going with our play.
"We adopted a simple game-plan, played the game in Leinster's half and I could feel that they were doubting themselves a little bit.
"Once we put the pressure on, they put in a few bad kicks and we capitalised on their mistakes.
"We've lost five home games this season, so it's great to get back on the winning side."
