John Mulvihill was proud of Cardiff Blues performance as they crashed to an agonising one-point at the death.
It appeared as though the Blues would kick off the new Guinness PRO14 season in style as they led 29-14 mid-way through the second-half thanks to a brace of tries from both Jason Harries and Rey Lee-Lo.
But Leinster demonstrated why they are PRO14 and European champions as they fought their way back and ground their way to victory.
It was a bitter pill for Cardiff Blues and the 9,284 Arms Park crowd to swallow and Mulvihill was no different but he could not fault his side’s effort.
He said: “I was very proud of the boys’ performance. I wanted them to leave everything out there which they did but games coming down to fine margins against championship teams.
“We’re disappointed but we got started, we got two points and we will learn from that and look forward to a week in Italy.
“It was just little things. When you have momentum and you give away five penalties on the bounce then you lose that momentum. We need to address that and there were a couple of loose carries in both halves that cost us a little bit.”
The Blues now go on the road to Italy with consecutive games against Benetton Rugby and Zebre before returning to the Arms Park on September 21, against Munster.
Mulvihill was hugely impressed with his first taste of competitive rugby at the iconic ground and hopes a bumper crowd returns for the next PRO14 showdown.
He added: “I know that the Cardiff Blues family is massive and when Cardiff Arms Park is open, they turn up. I heard at the beginning of the week that it might be 6-7,000 so to get more than 9,000 is absolutely fantastic.
“I just hope they go away with a smile and understand we were in the contest and led the game for 78 minutes. The only time Leinster were in front was with the last kick of the game and credit to them.”
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