Leinster coach Joe Schmidt bemoans manner of Pro12 final defeat

Brian O'Driscoll shows his disappointment

Leinster coach Joe Schmidt has expressed disappointment at the manner of his side's last-gasp 31-30 defeat to Ospreys in the Pro12 final in Dublin.

Yellow cards for Heinke van der Merwe and Nathan White, along with an injury to fellow prop Mike Ross, hampered the Irish province as they fell to their third successive league final defeat.

"There was always going to be a little bit of fatigue," said Schmidt.

"I think you get more fatigue when you are down to 14 men twice in the half."

Leinster's disappointment comes just eight days after the elation which followed their victory over Ulster in the Heineken Cup decider.

A late converted try snatched victory for the Welsh side at the RDS.

"I am pretty gutted obviously," admitted Schmidt.

"We knew that it was going to be tough and we had to be in front in the back half of the game.

"The yellow cards mean you have to overwork a little bit.

"We fell off a couple of tight tackles and maybe just didn't have things bounce our way.

"I thought it was a superb kick by Dan Biggar from the edge and it was pretty much the same thing he did to us last time to get a one-point win (here back in March)."