After the dust settled on another demonstration of French firepower amid the heat and variety of colours of a carnival-like weekend in Bilbao, one of the abiding thoughts was how Leinster will respond to this latest blow to their hopes and ambitions.In the short-term, they host the Lions next Saturday in the URC quarter-finals – Paddy McCarthy will likely be sidelined again with another foot injury – and both Leo Cullen and Caelan Doris spoke dutifully of that game. Yet even last June’s Croke Park destruction of the Bulls had seemed anti-climactic after the scarring Northampton semi-final loss, as now will this URC title defence after such a comprehensive 41-19 beating by Bordeaux Bègles.Since winning that fourth star in the San Mamés Stadium eight years ago, it seems like they’ve tried everything to win a fifth and, wonderfully resilient though they have been, you wonder how they can re-set yet again.After all, Rieko Ioane, Luke McGrath and Ciarán Frawley are all moving on and James Lowe’s future with Leinster remains very much in doubt, while there is little scope for even one marquee signing, albeit Joey Carbery is returning. And so many of this squad have been to the well so often; 14 of last Saturday’s match-day squad were playing in their fourth or fifth losing final. That’s some amount of individual and collective pain.“It just makes you hungrier really,” maintained Josh van der Flier, who has played in the last four. “You get so close, and it just drives you on more. I remember hearing a story years ago about a fisherman trying to catch a big fish and he tries for years and years; and that’s what keeps you coming back. “It’s a pretty stupid example,” he admitted wryly, “but it just keeps driving you on. It’s what we all work towards. The URC means a lot to us, but I think this particular relationship with Europe means a huge amount to us and Leinster. We’ll be back next year giving it our all again but it’s pretty tough to take at the moment to be honest. “It’s different this year. We fought really hard to get a lot of results,” he said, although he admitted: “We probably had it a bit easier getting to the final in previous years.”Leinster's Joe McCarthy, Dan Sheehan and Andrew Porter dejected after the Champions Cup loss. Photograph: Nick Elliott/Inpho [ Gerry Thornley: Leinster beaten decisively by Bordeaux on bruising weekend for Irish rugbyOpens in new window ]Rather than the tears following the 2023 defeat after relinquishing a 23-7 lead against La Rochelle, van der Flier was more pragmatic and even phlegmatic in assessing this defeat. “It’s hard to know,” he said when asked if Leinster had done themselves justice in this final. “I thought we gave everything. The lads tried and worked really hard.“Everything felt right in my head anyway in what we did during the week. A lot of credit to Bordeaux. They’re a very, very good side. They’re by far the best team we’ve played this year.”For UBB’s attack coach from Clare, this was one over the South African two-time World Cup-winning defence coach.“It’s a particular challenge,” said Noel McNamara on encountering Jacques Nienaber’s blitz defence. “There is a bit of fool’s gold on the edges. They are very compact and you can’t go and find that too soon, so it is about going direct. We have some players who are very good at that,” he said, namechecking Yoram Moefana, Marko Gazotti, Jefferson Poirot and Carlu Sadie.“It is not a defence that we come up against particularly often and I can tell you that that really motivated the players. They were excited with the opportunity to attack against that. “The best players are motivated by challenges and we saw that when we did put speed in the game,” he said of the need to generate quick ruck ball. “Obviously when there is no ruck, that is even better.”Union Bordeaux Bègles' attack coach Noel McNamara and Adam Coleman celebrate after the match. Photograph: Nick Elliott/Inpho Unbeaten in successive Champions Cups, McNamara said a turning point had been coming back from 33-22 down at half-time away to the Bulls, adding that an additional motivation was completing the set of beating the French, Premiership and URC champions. McNamara “definitely” agreed with Matthieu Jalibert’s belief that the Champions Cup better suited UBB. ”The refereeing of this competition is positive. They don’t allow any toxic behaviour around the breakdown in particular, which we do see a bit in the Top 14.“There is certainly more of a positive feel to this competition. Even the bonus point structure probably leads into that as well. It is a competition that we have really embraced.“There is lots of talk about finals won and lost and we had won one, yes, but we had lost two as well,” he stressed of the last two French final defeats against Toulouse. “So, there was huge ambition within the group not to end up with a 25 per cent win rate. We have had four finals in three years and won two of them. That was another factor.”[ ‘The downward spiral continues’: French media reacts to Bordeaux rout of LeinsterOpens in new window ]