Llanelli Scarlets coach Gareth Jenkins admitted a gulf in class separated his side from Celtic Cup winners Munster. Jenkins said a determined recruitment drive will follow this summer after a disappointing season ended with a 27-16 Cup final defeat at Lansdowne Road.
He said: "We played a full-strength Munster side; we were competitive but maybe missing that little bit of class.
"We are aware we need to strengthen the team and the squad. The summer will be all about recruitment."
Scarlets captain Simon Easterby said his side's poor first half display cost them victory against Munster.
"We turned over too much ball and gave them a bit of a lead which inevitably cost us in the end," he said.
"We came back into it in the second half and gave everything but there were some tired boys out there. I can't fault their commitment.
"Munster know how to win big games and we can learn a lot from this."
Jenkins, though, refused to criticise his players after the final whistle.
And he admitted: "We were chuffed to get here. The type of season we've had, anything to try to redeem it would've been a plus.
"We played well in the last couple of weeks and I felt we contributed to this game without maybe never really getting on top of it.
"There are always aspects that let us down and today was the lineout. We didn't have anything like the lineout we needed in the first half.
"That improved in the second half and we got back into the game.
"Munster scored some good tries. I always felt they had a little bit more impetus than we had.
"But I'm pretty pleased we ended up not letting ourselves down, contributing to a good game of rugby and playing out the season the way we have."
MMIX
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I'm pretty pleased we ended up not letting ourselves down
