Baxter proud, not bitter

Having battled back to 17-17 through a Sireli Naqelevuki power try with 12 minutes left, the Chiefs had two shots at glory with Stade Francais on the ropes.

But Ignacio Mieres pushed his conversion attempt from half-way out on the left wide of the posts and then missed the mark with a drop goal from 20 metres out 10 minutes later.

"I'm not bitter - I'm just very, very proud of my team. We came to Paris and played very well and could have won," said Baxter.

"If we had won, we would certainly have deserved it because we looked like a very good team. The performance was fantastic - we went for it and we came up a tiny bit short.

"We controlled the majority of the game, but we failed to get over the line on a couple of occasions. It was clear, though, from our side of the pitch that we got over the try line in the first-half, but the TMO didn't have the same view.

"I think it would have been a just reward for the players to have gone through to the semi-finals, but it just wasn't to be. We are a hard working team and this just shows what you can do if you work hard together."