Wasps director of rugby Tom Hanks saw his side fail to reach the Amlin Challenge Cup Final on Saturday night but insisted that defeat at the penultimate stage had nothing to do with lack of effort.
Hanks praised his team's character during the three-point loss to Cardiff Blues at Adams Park, accepting that his players gave everything to reach a first European final in three years.
"I don't think you can question the effort," said Hanks, after tries from Leigh Halfpenny and Gethin Jenkins saw the Blues win through in High Wycombe.
"Sometimes you just don't get the result, but it wasn't through lack of trying. "I thought the guys really responded (to last week's league defeat to Bath) and really worked hard for each other in difficult conditions but, ultimately, it's a bit of an empty feeling because we won't enjoy watching the final.
"If you look at the last 12 months, we've come a long way with a new coaching team, a lot of new players, and I think we've come through a lot of adversity. But we're very disappointed and we're determined to show how strong our resolve is next week."
Hanks, who is in his first season in the head role at the double Heineken Cup Champions, was right to suggest that what proved to be a tense affair was utimately decided by small margins rather than any gulf in class between the two teams.
While the Blues claimed the only tries of the game, Dai Young's men never looked like running away with proceedings and, with just a few minutes rermaining, a sixth Dave Walder penalty could have won it for the hosts.
"They took their opportunities,' added Hanks.
"We got hurt pretty badly by errors. I don't think we made a lot but, when we did, they capitalised on them.
"There were a couple of high balls and we gave away a couple of soft penalties that sort of kept them in the game.
"In the first half, I thought we managed the game pretty well and coped with the conditions. Maybe they got the better of the field position and, in those conditions, that allows you to dictate terms and, ultimately, dictate the scoreboard."
The second of the two Blues tries arrived when Wasps were down to 14 men with an hour on the clock after veteran England star Simon Shaw was yellow carded in the 55th minute.
And while Hanks admitted that the Lions lock's absence undoubtedly influenced proceedings, particularly as Jenkins' try followed a Blues lineout, he was quick to praise the performance of their opponents rather than to lay the blame at Shaw's door.
"It played its part," said Hanks of the sin binning. "They had a man binned as well but it did hurt.
"Shawsy's pretty important to us around driven lineouts and things like that. You don't just fill the void of Simon Shaw for 10 minutes.
"But let's give them some credit. Their experienced players, the guys you'd expect to perform on a day like this, did. They made sure that they hurt us when we did make a mistake.
"We've now got to make sure we come back stronger, both next week and next season."
