Murphy devastated by defeat

Leicester Reaction:Geordan Murphy fears he may never get over the devastation of Leicester's Heineken Cup final defeat to Leinster.

The Tigers fullback, who captained the side in yesterday's 19-16 defeat at Murrayfield, is still haunted by the club's mauling by Wasps in the 2007 final.

And he insists seeing many of his Ireland team-mates finally land club rugby's biggest prize was of scant consolation.

"It's always going to be bitter," said Murphy, who equalled the record of most individual final appearances of four on Saturday..

"We lost in the final in 2007 and that still grates me, so I'm sure this will stay with me for a long time.

"On the flip side of that, fantastic for those guys. I can appreciate what it means to them.

"But I wanted more than anything to win for Leicester."

As well as the disappointment of defeat, Murphy was forced to endure the frustration of watching from the sidelines as Richard Cockerill's men surrendered a 16-9 lead.

The 31-year-old's departure with a hip injury came moments before Jamie Heaslip scored the try that got Leinster back in the game.

"It was actually my hip flexor that went at the end of the first half," said Murphy, who was part of Leicester's Heineken Cup-winning sides of 2001 and 2002.

"I said at half-time to 'Cockers' that I was struggling with it and when I got back out there for the second half, it wasn't really firing."

He added: "It's not nice, obviously, to have to sit and watch that and not be a part of it, so I'm gutted to be quite honest."

Murphy was philosophical about the defeat, saying: "I think we played reasonably well and Leinster played that little bit better.

"The two drop-goals that they got were at key times and they kept the scoreboard ticking over nicely.

"In the second half, they worked hard to equalise at 16-all and they seemed to be pretty patient."

Head coach Cockerill, who only took charge at Welford Road this year after Heyneke Meyer left his post for family reasons, insisted reaching the final was an achievement in itself for his side.

Cockerill has transformed the Tigers' season, leading them to the Guinness Premiership title last weekend, their 12th victory in 13 games before Saturday.

"We could have lost last week, we could have lost in the semi-final of this competition," said the former England hooker, who baulked at suggestions his side had "surrendered" a seven-point advantage.

"We didn't surrender anything. They're a good side, they put pressure on us and they took their chance.

"We put pressure on them and we scored; it could've gone either way.

"I think it's a bit dramatic to say we surrendered a seven-point lead; we didn't surrender anything.

"We worked bloody hard and they had the breaks in the game.

"The boys have been manful the whole year. Our run's been the best of any domestic team in Europe after Christmas.

"All I want to talk about is the positives for us because we should take a lot of credit for the way we've played this year."

Despite failing to lead Leicester to a record-equalling third Heineken Cup success, Cockerill is still enjoying being at the helm.

"Of course," he said. "We're a great club, we're a big club, we've got some great players and I'm grateful to be in charge.

"It's a bitter pill when you lose but that's the way it is."