Leo Cullen has vowed Leinster will come back stronger after another trophyless season.
For the third year in a row the province have missed out on silverware, following a 25-20 defeat away to the Bulls in the semi-final of the BKT United Rugby Championship.
In each of the last three campaigns, Cullen's side have lost a URC semi-final and a Champions Cup decider.
Leinster looked on course for top-seed in the URC play-offs when they hammered the Bulls 47-14 at the RDS back in March, but three defeats in their final five regular season games left them away to the South Africans in Pretoria this weekend.
And while their season has now come to a familiar, disappointing end, the Leinster head coach was in philosophical mood at Loftus Versfeld.
"We will build and we'll go again," he said.
"[We will] Show some character. I think the group showed a lot of resolve to come back from where they had been over the last couple of years so it's disappointing to be left with the same outcome, which is a one-score loss in a URC semi-final. It doesn’t get any closer than that."
As was the case in Leinster's Champions Cup final defeat to Toulouse last month, Leinster's attacking game failed to fire in Pretoria, with their only lead of the game coming during the opening half while the Bulls were down to 14 players following a Sergeal Petersen yellow card.
There will be plenty of change at the province over the summer, with Tyler Bleyendaal coming in as new attack coach to replace Andrew Goodman, who is moving into the Ireland set-up.
RG Snyman's move from Munster is also set to bolster their pack considerably, while All Black Jordie Barrett is also set to arrive later in the season.
"Everyone wants to win trophies here," Cullen (above) added.
"The club is hugely ambitious. You see the club here [Bulls] that we're currently sitting in is no different when you look at the honours wall that they have here. That’s what we’re up against. We’ve lost in a final to Toulouse and we’ve lost in a semi-final away here to the Bulls.
"Two clubs that are steeped in history and have winning cultures as well, and we want to be up there with them.
"For us now, it’s been a long season so it’s rest and recover. A load of guys will be away on tour and be back here [in Pretoria]."
The Leinster coach believes his side's chastening experience in South Africa will ultimately stand to them going forward.
"Hopefully they will be better for the experience of being here this week and they will pick up more experience by being here in a few weeks time as well, so when they do come back to us that they have a greater understanding of how you go and navigate your way to try and get a more positive outcome than we got today
"We’re in two unbelievably tough competitions and we need to keep working at getting better. We’ve got some young players who have picked up experience this year and we need them to push through and be better.
"With some of the people who are coming in, both in terms of the backroom-coaching wise and the players as well that we’ve signed.
"For us as a group, we just need to learn and I think when they get across the line, they will be able to kick on from there. We just need to work hard at trying to get across the line in the first place," he added.
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