Andrew Porter found some relief from Leinster’s latest European disappointment by hosting a first birthday party for his son Max on Sunday. However, the special dispensation to skip a gathering involving players and coaches that occurred the day after their return from Bilbao did not provide a full escape and, in quieter moments in the 48 hours after the Champions Cup final defeat, the 30-year-old’s thoughts reverted to the events of the San Mamés Stadium.More than 70 family members had gathered at the Ireland prop’s home less than 24 hours after Leinster’s heavy 41-19 loss to Bordeaux Bègles – a result that extended the province’s wait for a fifth European title to eight years.“It was perfect to take my mind off things, having 70 people in the house to cook for everyone and make sure everyone’s fed and watered,” Porter said.“There was probably more. It’s a big-old family. My dad has 10 brothers and sisters and then you forget how many of them had kids. So they were all running about the house.”The occasion provided welcome perspective after another painful European final defeat, but Porter admitted the emotional fallout lingered into the early part of the week.“There were moments when it was nearly like PTSD from the last few years,” he said. “It is an incredibly s**t feeling on Sunday morning and Monday morning when you’re at home. That’s when it hits.“Even with distractions, when you have that dead time, you feel flat. You go back to the game and hindsight’s a great thing. You’re thinking, ‘I should have done this, should have done that’.”Leinster’s players returned to training on Tuesday after being given an extra day away from the environment following the defeat. With a URC quarter-final against the Lions fixed for Saturday at the Aviva Stadium, there is little time to dwell on another failed European campaign.Andrew Porter at a Leinster training session at UCD after Champions Cup loss. Photograph: Grace Halton/©INPHO Porter acknowledged the prospect of retaining the URC title has helped sharpen focus quickly.“I could have just sat in the corner on Sunday for my kid’s birthday, but life does go on,” he said. “We’re lucky we’ve put in great work in the URC to get to this quarter-final.“It’s not like the season is done; you would be gutted for the Ulster lads who played on Friday [in the Challenge Cup final] and that’s the season done.“We’ve put ourselves in a good position in the URC and there’s extra motivation now to go and do it. It was similar last year and that’s what made winning in Croke Park so special. There’s still a trophy there to be won.” The scale and manner of Leinster’s defeat has prompted debate around whether the province are beginning to fall behind the leading French sides who have dominated the Champions Cup in recent seasons. Andrew Porter of Leinster is tackled by Maxime Lucu of Union Bordeaux-Bègles during the Champions Cup final. Photograph: David Rogers/Getty Images Porter rejected suggestions of a widening gulf between Leinster and the elite Top 14 clubs, insisting the scoreline in Bilbao exaggerated the difference between the sides.He said the game should have been a lot closer than the 35-7 half-time deficit suggested, put a lot of the province’s issues down to uncharacteristic errors and said that, after Leinster got the start they wanted courtesy of Tommy O’Brien’s try, giving Bordeaux opportunities left them with an uphill battle to stay in the contest.“It’s a tough score to come back from,” he said. “We got how many 22 entries in the second half, converted a few, but not half as much as we should have compared to other games in the season where you look at our 22-metre entries and we were more efficient.“If you looked at the stats without the score you’d be like, ‘oh, that’s that, they [Leinster] definitely won’. They’re just numbers at the end of the day, but that’s where we felt that we were building pressure in terms of the metres gained, gainline success.“We were winning in those areas, but it’s just those breakaways, those small things in the game where you just let them have a foothold like it and it just keeps building.“I don’t think there’s a huge gap in terms of talent or anything like that.[ Gordon D’Arcy: Can Leinster’s coaching group unlock what this squad is capable of achieving?Opens in new window ]“You can look at the season as a whole rather than just the big games at the end and see how tight it is. Obviously they’ve got some great teams in the Top 14, but I don’t think the gap is as big as people are saying.“On paper, with the scoreline, it looks big. But I don’t think it’s that big a gap overall.”