Simon Easterby’s side came within three minutes of claiming a place in the last eight of the Amlin Challenge Cup before Ben Botica booted Harlequins to a 22-20 victory in West Wales last weekend.
The narrow defeat meant the Scarlets’ European dream ended early, while Quins secured a mouth-watering trip to Paris to face Stade Francais on the first weekend of April.
But, while the disappointment of seeing a quarter-final spot slip from their grasp was hard to take, Adriaanse wants to focus on the positives after a huge improvement between this year’s efforts and last year’s Heineken Cup outing. The Scarlets recorded two wins and a draw this time around, with victories at Quins and Racing Metro, 12 months after losing all six pool games against ASM Clermont Auvergne, Leinster and Exeter Chiefs.
“Things didn’t work out for us at the end but we’ve set a great platform for next year. It’s definitely something to build on,” said Adriaanse.
“Last season we were zero wins from six. It shows how we’ve grown as a group over the last year-and-a-half or so.
“There’s been great lessons learnt. As a player, that is the stage you want to be measured on. We gave a good account of ourselves.
“There’s no two ways about, it was heartbreaking for us against Harlequins. The guys really put their heart and soul into it and that showed throughout the whole 80 minutes. It was a pity not to take it all the way but this year we have really turned a few heads in the Heineken.”
Putting a positive spin on things isn’t proving quite so easy for Easterby at the moment, though, with the former Ireland flanker admitting that missing out on a last-eight place still rankles.
Easterby insists he couldn’t fault his players’ efforts and endeavours for the majority of Sunday’s match but that won’t be any consolation when the quarter-finals come around in the spring.
“The performance we gave for 95 per cent of the game I was delighted with. I’m still hurting because we blew a chance,” said Easterby.
“We’ll all be gutted come the beginning of April when those games are being played because we’re not taking part in them. Those games are the reasons why you play and the reason why you work so hard. Those games are the ones you want to be a part of.”
