Cheika livid at inept display

RUGBY:Coach and players alike could scarcely conceal their disappointment and frustration after Leinster effectively botched any chance they had of earning a vastly more favourable "home" quarter-final; whatever about it being lucrative.

If all the other pool leaders win over the weekend, Leinster are consigned to being the sixth-ranked team in the last eight, which would leave them facing the third-placed team away. On current standings, that would be Munster.

Had all six pool leaders won, including Leinster, they would most probably have drawn Wasps at home.

"I told them that if we didn't get something out of this game we wouldn't win the Heineken Cup," admitted a livid Michael Cheika afterwards. "Gloucester played well. It was always going to be competitive down here. I don't know if we need to look at our finishing but I'll need to go back and have a look at the game. Things didn't go our way with 20 minutes to go but we'll do everything we can, 24/7, to make it right.

"They've a passionate crowd and they are a team that wants to play the game. We're down but we're definitely not out. To win a Cup tournament, you have to have control. Hopefully our experiences in Bath, Toulouse and Agen will help us."

Regarding Shane Horgan's twisted knee, Cheika said: "It doesn't look good but I don't want to speak out of turn at the moment. It's desperately disappointing."

Gordon D'Arcy admitted that the Leinster players only had to look each other in the eye when realising they left this one behind. "Checks gave us the honest speech. He could have said fair play, you played well well done, but he gave us the hard truths. We lost the game. It was here for the taking but Gloucester gave us the lesson in how to keep the ball."

Looking ahead to the quarter-finals, he added: "We don't know exactly what is going on, but the gut feeling is generally the right one and we've made it hard for ourselves."

The centre also lamented the missed opportunities: "Had we taken them we might have put the squeeze on Gloucester but they didn't allow us to play our game. It was very hard for us to get into the game in the second half because they put so much pressure on our setpieces."

Edinburgh's cup campaign ended in a low-key defeat as Agen ran out worthy 19-7 winners in a lacklustre affair at Murrayfield.