Dallaglio said Wasps aimed to peak in the final

Gloucester finished the regular season 15 points clear of Wasps in the table, but their 39-3 upset in Saturday's winner-takes-all finale meant they missed out on the ultimate prize.

But winning skipper Dallaglio had little sympathy for the defeated Cherry and Whites.

"With a performance like that, we thoroughly deserve it," the England back-rower said.

"We've won 17 of the last 19 games since Christmas. If that's not champion form, I don't know what is.

"We all knew what the rules of the competition were and we've worked very, very hard and finished the strongest team in the country."

Dallaglio added that Wasps' final victory was a tactical triumph for coach Warren Gatland, who paced his players perfectly to peak at exactly the right time of the season.

We were a shambles and an absolute disgrace Nigel Melville Gloucester coach

He said: "We didn't try to chase Gloucester's lead down as much as we would have done if it was just over 22 games.

"They played their better rugby towards the start of the season; we played our worst rugby at the beginning and have been getting better and better.

"It's not always been easy on the eye but we stuck at it and we thoroughly deserve this victory."

Losing coach Nigel Melville refused to criticise the play-off system but said the three-week lay-off it imposed on his team before the final had not helped their chances.

Gloucester 3-29 Wasps

"All the momentum we had gathered in the last few months disappeared," he said.

Melville rated the feeling of defeat as "10 times worse" than Gloucester's Heineken Cup heartbreak at Munster, but said of the play-off system: "We knew the rules and we came here to play a final.