Defeat is difficult to take, admits head coach
GLENN Delaney was left to rue a missed opportunity as the Scarlets bowed out of Europe.
The West Wales region pushed Toulon all the way – they led 6-0 at the break – but not convert a series of chances as the three-time champions of Europe came back to reach the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup.
All they had to show for their efforts were two penalties from the boot of Leigh Halfpenny penalties.
And it is Toulon who will face Leicester with a place in the final at stake.
Scarlets head coach Delaney must now prepare his players for the start of the new Guinness PRO12 season, which gets under way next month.
He said: “I’m immensely proud of the effort, but as a group we’re disappointed.
“We spoke straight after the game about key moments at the end and we had an opportunity.
“We had a couple of chances and we have to take them.
“We’ll be honest about it. I can’t fault the effort – it was an immense effort – and tactically I thought we were playing the game well.
“We knew it would come down to one chance and we would have to make sure we were good enough, but sadly we just didn’t quite nail it.
“It’s fine margins, but when you’re playing in big games against big teams, outstanding teams, it comes down to fine margins.
“We got close, but we’ll be critical about it.
“We’re not satisfied, we want to make sure that the next time we come here we are six points better and that’s where we want to take the club.
“We’ll lick our wounds, get tight together as a group and try to map out the next campaign which we hope will be a big one.”