Not many people would have put money on us reaching the quarter-final stages of the Heineken Cup given the group we had, and even fewer on us beating Toulouse, the three times European champions, on their own patch.

With ten minutes left in the match, we were still in the game, but to be fair to Toulouse, the physicality and the tempo they brought to the game showed in the last twenty. They stepped up a little bit and we tired.

It certainly wasn't the start we planned for. The score came from rare individual errors, but we are all human, and all make mistakes.

Toulouse made mistakes also and we tried to capitalise, but they were more clinical than us.

Losing two big players was also a blow for us, which affected certain facets of our game. Things that have been going well for us all season, such as the scrum and lineout, our gain line efficiency, struggled a bit, due to the pressure Toulouse put on us.

I don't think the score line reflected the match, as it was a much closer game than that. However, if anyone doubted that Toulouse were still a force in Europe, then they should watch a tape of Sunday's game. Toulouse were very controlled, very clinical, kept the scoreboard ticking over and had a great balance of forward and back play. They also had a little bit of the bounce of the ball early on.

The first try went their way and we had an opportunity just after that which didn't go our way and ended up in a yellow card.

We've got to learn from the experience, improve our game and improve our squad. Lessons don't get any better than that. I wouldn't be surprised if Toulouse go on to become this season's Heineken Cup champions.

I would like to thank all those supporters who made the effort to travel to the south of France to watch the game. The support we have received on our travels in Europe this season has been fantastic and we can be proud of taking over a thousand fans to watch the biggest game in the region's history.

I would like to welcome the coaching staff of the Scarlets along with the supporters of both teams our game at the Arms Park this weekend, its our last Welsh derby match of the season and is also a match that will go a long way in deciding who will be the highest placed Welsh region at the end of the season.

As I have said earlier our focus now will be on finishing as high up in the Magners League as possible. We started the campaign strongly and that is how we intend to finish it.

We will be looking to reverse the result against the Scarlets last month but know it will not be an easy task. They are a team with world class players in key positions and have the backs that can punish any mistakes that we make. However, our recent home form has been good and we will be looking for a good win in our penultimate home game.