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But while much has been made of the fact that England only had one representative in the last eight in the shape of beaten quarter-finalists Northampton Saints, an Englishman living in France says the growing intensity of Europe's premier competition means things could be very different next time out.
Iain Balshaw played the full 80 minutes for Biarritz in the 21-19 loss to Toulouse in Paris last weekend as he came close to scaling European rugby's greatest peak in just his first season in the French game.
But while the former British & Irish Lion and World Cup winning full back sees no reason for the Basque side not to go one better in 12 months time, he believes the make up of the quarter-finalists could be very different.
"The French clubs are strong but last year they had only one team in the knockout stages and the rest were from Britain," said Balshaw, who has also played Heineken Cup rugby for Bath and Gloucester as well as experiencing the Challenge Cup with Leeds.
"There's a lot talked about salary caps but when Wasps, Leicester, Munster were winning there was none.
"Next year it could be totally different. You might see only one or two French teams in the knockout rounds.
"The pool stage is getting so tough, so close."
As for this year's tournament and the final itself, Balshaw admits his new side underachieved in the showpiece event.
Although they came within a single score of claiming their first European crown, Balshaw doesn't beat around the bush when he says their performance was below par.
"The best side won - there's no hiding from it," added Balshaw.
"When we scored that late try there was a glimmer for us, but Toulouse were better than us.
"We'd talked about playing for 80 minutes, but we didn't do it. We've been our own worst enemies all season, and we have to accept that fact.
"What will I do now? Go back to England and visit my mum for a while, then spend some time in Biarritz. I won't be going away on holiday. When you live where I live, you don't really need holidays."
