Toulon must improve to become European champions despite Leinster win, says Bryan Habana

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Bryan Habana talks through Toulon's Champions Cup semi-final win over Leinster, and his intercept try

Bryan Habana believes Toulon will have to be much improved if they are to beat Clermont in the European Champions Cup final after his try secured an extra-time win over Leinster.

The French outfit are looking for a third straight European triumph but despite going into the game as overwhelming favourites, Toulon were pushed all the way by Leinster before eventually winning 25-20.

The South African winger came up with what proved to be the game’s decisive moment as he intercepted a stray Leinster pass to run clear and score Toulon’s only try but he was critical of his side’s overall performance.

“I think we arrived with the mind-set that it was going to be a walkover and, with Jamie Heaslip leading his troops so well they pushed us hard and it was on a knife edge on those last 10 minutes,” Habana said.

“As a team we’re going to have to look really hard at ourselves, (we were) disappointing for a lot of that game. Discipline, errors, we allowed Leinster into the game for most of it.

“We’ll enjoy the celebrations but, as a team, if we really want to see ourselves as contenders to become European champions we’re going to have to go back to the drawing board and work a lot harder than we did today.”

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Jamie Heaslip is extremely disappointed after Leinster just missed out on a Champions Cup final spot

Meanwhile, Leinster captain Jamie Heaslip was pleased with the effort put in by his side but understandably disappointed with the outcome of the match.

“A lot of people didn’t give us a shout,” he said. “We came down here with nothing to lose and the heart shown by everyone out there to go 100 minutes of rugby - it went right down to the wire.

“It just showed you get punished by slight errors throughout the game and against a side like Toulon it’s very hard, if you give them opportunities, to get into the game.

“The first half-time we had a lot of confidence, we thought we had a couple of opportunities out there and we took the scores as they got presented but we’re a little bit gutted that we’ve come out second best today.”