Castres Olympique captain Alexandre Albouy accepts their 2009/10 Amlin Challenge Cup hopes are over and that fighting for honours on two fronts has proved impossible.
But he still believes they will qualify for the 16th season of the Heineken Cup through their efforts in the Top 14 Orange.
"Had we won our home game against Toulon in Round 1, we may have had a different approach since then," said Albouy.
"But knowing that only the Pool winner could qualify, we knew it would be very complicated from then on. We can still keep our hopes alive to get to the Heineken Cup through our position in our domestic championship so the pressure on our shoulders isn't the same as that on other opponents.
"Our efforts in the Top 14 have paid off so far because we are top of the table so we are pleased with that achievement and it was well worth focusing our energy on only the one competition. Now for the return leg against Saracens in Round 4 of the Amlin Challenge Cup, it is obvious that we can't realistically concentrate on getting a result.
"Looking back at the game on Friday it was evident that they came to get the win. Considering the situation in our Pool, they wanted to impose their plan at all cost and they occupied a lot of territory with a big kicking game. Their defence was very strong too."
"For our part, we had several chances to score some points that we didn't take and as the game wore on they overcame us, building on their confidence. It's a real shame because we did lead in the first half and we could have scored more."
And he singled out half backs Justin Marshall and Glen Jackson for special mention.
"Justin is a great player," he said. "He is very smart and I had the opportunity to play against him when I was at Stade Français Paris and he was at the Ospreys. Last Friday night he was able to handle and control the end of the game really well and that led to a victory for the Saracens.
"Glen had a neat performance - as did his team as a whole. He had a very clean kicking game, the strategy was precise and their game plan was relatively simple but efficient because they constantly put a lot of pressure on us.
"But as far as our ambitions go now, our qualification hopes are seriously damaged.
"When we started the Amlin Challenge Cup this season we had just come out of six intense league games within 24 days due to the flu outbreak that affected a lot of French clubs.
"Games had to be rescheduled which meant a higher frequency of fixtures. We gave it all in the Top 14 to do well in those crucial games so we knew we would be tired.
"In the Amlin Challenge Cup most of the French clubs approach the games in a different way, to give players within the squad opportunities, to develop the young players and work on different strategies."
