Iain Balshaw accepted Biarritz had deserved to lose after going down 21-19 against Toulouse in the Heineken Cup final.
Biarritz paid price for 'flat' performance, admits Englishman
Iain Balshaw accepted Biarritz had deserved to lose after going down 21-19 against Toulouse in the Heineken Cup final.
Balshaw, one of three Englishmen in Biarritz's match-day squad along with Magnus Lund and Ayoola Erinle, felt his team had turned in a "flat" performance at the Stade de France.
The Basque side twice led by six points during the opening half-hour but their pack was overpowered as the boots of David Skrela and Florian Fritz combined for all of Toulouse's points.
Karmichael Hunt's 73rd-minute converted try brought Biarritz back within two points but they could not find a way through during a tense finale.
"I am gutted to come that close and lose by two points," Balshaw told
Sky Sports.
"For 60 minutes they dominated the game and we were very flat.
"We weren't that aggressive and lacked dynamism, in the end the better team won the game.
"I thought in the last 20 minutes we had a bit of life in us. I am disappointed for the lads and the people that have travelled up.
"We were just off the boil and you can't be off the boil against a team like Toulouse."
Awesome
Toulouse scrum-half Byron Kelleher hailed his side's victory as "awesome".
Kelleher, for whom this was a first European success, said: "It's an awesome sensation.
"I have won the Top 14 (French domestic title) and that was an awesome atmosphere but year after year this competition gets tougher and it is a huge challenge to come out as European champions."
The New Zealander believed the key to Toulouse's fourth Heineken Cup title was their clinical edge.
"They played with desperation near the end as both teams were fatigued, that's finals football," he added.
"It goes to show you have to be switched on for 80 minutes but we took our opportunities and it paid off.
"We had confidence because we played with the ball a lot and we knew we could put pressure on them and fatigue them by playing with the ball, so that's what paid off for us."
