Gloucester boss Bryan Redpath was delighted with his side's comfortable win over Biarritz on Saturday, even though their chances of qualifying for the knockout stages of Europe's premier club competition are now over for another year.
The Cherry and Whites produced one of their best displays of the season to outclass the French giants but their failure to gain a try-scoring bonus point meant they cannot now qualify for the last eight.
But while Redpath would have loved to have gone to Newport next weekend with a Heineken Cup quarter-final place up for grabs, he was clearly still more than happy with the manner of his team's 23-8 victory.
"I'm delighted with the win," said Redpath.
"Defensively we were strong and disciplined in the contact area. In attack, we created a lot and took our opportunities so I'm obviously delighted.
"We were smart and kept the scoreboard ticking over and we kept our patience.
"The key thing was that we stuck to our guns and held them at bay. We knew that if we played in the right areas we would create chances - and we took them."
Tries from Lesley Vainikolo and Tim Molenaar, together with 13 points from the boot of fly-half Nicky Robinson gave the home side their third win of the group stages as they thoroughly outplayed a Biarritz side who arrived in the West Country unbeaten in this year's competition.
Redpath praised the performances of a number of key individuals, as well as the team as a whole, while also explaining why his team never fully pushed for the four-try bonus point that would have seen them remain in with a shout of topping the pool.
"Eliota (Fuimaono-Sapolu) was outstanding as were (Akapusi) Qera and (Gareth) Delve. We set some standards on Monday that we would like to stick to and we did that," added Redpath.
"Nicky (Robinson) kicked pretty well and Tim Molenaar's try at the end was good which came from Eliota's break. Some of the opportunities we took made a difference.
"I thought Les (Vainikolo) was very active as well. He was great around the players and the support they gave him. He did a lot of good things today.
"We did talk about that (the bonus point) after the Molenaar try. It was 16-3 before that and, if you lose a soft try, it is 16-10 and a totally different outlook on it.
"We had to win the game first and foremost. That was the key thing."
