As Leinster lick their wounds from a latest Champions Cup final defeat, an inability to finish their chances will cause sleepless nights going forward.
It took 14 22-metres entries before Leinster finally breached the Toulouse try line, and that came in extra time. It was also with a numerical advantage after Richie Arnold was red-carded for a dangerous contact to the head of Cian Healy.
Leinster refused to take kickable penalties, opting instead to throw the dice by kicking to the corner.
Of course, it's easy to pick the game apart after the fact and hindsight must be the most frustrating thing in sport.
In fairness to Leinster, they might have thought that it would take a high score to beat a team like the French giants.
However, you have to adapt to the style of the game when you’re in the heat of the battle. It seemed that Leinster were too stubborn in changing tact.
A pivotal moment arose when Leinster managed to draw level and swing the momentum in their favour; for the first time in the contest they weren’t chasing.
This moment arrived with 51 minutes on the clock. Leinster had pressurised Toulouse through their intricate lineout attack, leading to a Caelan Doris line break.
As Jack Willis did all game, he disrupted the Leinster ball with a turnover, but was immediately poached by Andrew Porter. It was a penalty to Leinster, admittedly near the five-metre line and 22 metres from the posts.
It’s not an easy kick, but Ross Byrne is one of the most accurate kickers of a dead ball. It’s his biggest strength in selection. If it was a conversion you’d back him every time. Why pick a specialist kicker and tie one hand behind his back?
Instead they again opted to go to the corner. It was time to turn the screw and really impart a psychological blow on their opponents. It was Leinster’s 10th entry to the Toulouse 22. It was the 10th time they came away without a try.
At this stage it was time to go ahead on the scoreboard, and then possibly roll the dice once they were ahead to kill the game off.
Or, in more traditional ways, they could have separated themselves from Toulouse by adding more penalties, as the Antoine Dupont-inspired side had done to them.
Toulouse never even discussed their kickable penalties. They were lining up the kick before the camera could catch a conversation, such was the clarity of their penalty strategy.
Another comparable moment happened shortly after.
Leinster forced a scrum penalty after a forward-pass from Romain Ntamack. It was 15 metres in from touch and 40 metres from goal. Again, not simple by any stretch, but well within Byrne’s range.
This time they went to the corner and forced an easier penalty at goal with the score at 12-12.
Soon after, Toulouse won a maul penalty which was in a tougher position than the one that Leinster turned down. It was a similar distance from goal but nearly five metres from touch.
Thomas Ramos put the ball down and kicked his side into the lead once more. Efficient, accurate and psychologically damaging, it meant that Leinster were always chasing the game, something that Doris mentioned in his interview afterwards.
Toulouse didn’t kick everything. They missed two penalties along the way and it’s not as though kicking penalties gives you an automatic three points.
Ironically, it was a kick of a ball that nearly separated them in the 80 minutes, and it was a near miss from Ciarán Frawley’s drop goal that nearly won the game.
To think that they turned down so many kickable opportunities and almost won the game with their first drop goal attempt of the season.
Toulouse set out their stall from the very start. Despite almost scoring in the second minute, they built their pressure from the boot of Blair Kinghorn.
His first penalty was from the halfway line for the perfect start.
The Top 14 side scared Leinster with a try opportunity straight away and followed it up with a long-range penalty, which reminds the opposition that they can’t spend any time in their own half or they risk giving away three points.
Psychologically, Toulouse put it up to Leinster by reminding them that they can approach the game in different ways. Don’t give away early penalties because they’ll convert them into three points, but if you allow them to play then the punishment could potentially be even more severe.
In contrast to that, Leinster had four entries to the Toulouse 22 and hadn’t scored. Three of them were lineouts just five metres from the line and another was a turnover from a restart that Toulouse didn’t deal with after going six points up.
It took a quarter of the game and five Leinster entries to the opposition 22 before they picked up their first points.
Toulouse may have been riding their luck, but you grow taller every time the opposition fails to score and the belief in your barricade grows stronger.
In the past, when Ronan O’Gara and Paul O’Connell stood over a kickable penalty, discussing the chance to score a try, you could feel the intensity ratchet up. There was only ever one or two brave calls, otherwise they took their points.
The game has moved on from then, with more points needed to win games. However, Leinster seem to have gone too far and the brave call has now become the norm. They kick to the corner more often than not. They prefer to kill a team off early by converting chances instead of building their lead.
At the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, they missed their chances and never got ahead. Their attacking inaccuracies exploited their game strategy. You’d think if they built a score first, they would have conserved energy for a real assault on the Toulouse line, when the opposition were that bit weaker.
The French defence answered the many doubts about whether they could contain the attacking Irish province.
They forced Leinster into errors that we don’t see often, yet the team in blue still created an abundance of chances, the metric that you’ll look to as a coach.
However, you must follow up and solve the problems leading to their failure to cross the line.
In one of their early 22m entries, they had a penalty advantage from a maul, but the pass from Jamison Gibson-Park to Jamie Osborne was disrupted.
The young centre still managed to pick it up, but unfortunately threw another inaccurate pass to Byrne in the process.
It’s ridiculously harsh to point to Andrew Goodman’s attack and blame him for their lack of scoring. Had the pass gone to the out-half’s hands, Matthis Lebel had bit in on Robbie Henshaw with his hips turned the wrong way.
Kinghorn had stayed wide on Jordan Larmour and Hugo Keenan would have gone under the posts untouched.
Fine margins decide games, and unfortunately Leinster will replay these moments wondering what could have been.
If they took just one of those 13 22m entries in normal time, you feel they’d have won the game.
However, if they kicked their points, they could have been comfortable winners too.
It’s devastating for Leinster and redemption in the URC will offer scant consolation. This is another European final that has escaped their clutches.
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