Leinster captain Leo Cullen admitted his side's nail-biting Heineken Cup semi-final win over Clermont could have gone either way.
The reigning kings of Europe battled back from a 12-6 half-time deficit to stun their French opponents in Bordeaux and remain on course to lift the prestigious trophy for a third time in four years.
Cian Healy's try early in the second half, coupled with a Rob Kearney drop goal and Jonathan Sexton's third penalty, saw Leinster forge ahead.
However they were forced to hang on at the death, their Top 14 opponents seeing a try ruled out by the TMO at the death when Wesley Fofana let the ball slip from his grasp as he looked to plant it down over the line.
"To be honest it was pretty intense out there. I think both teams made quite a few mistakes considering the quality of players out there," Cullen said.
"I think a lot of it was to do with the pressure that was there as well. It was one of those games that could have gone either way.
"It goes to the TMO - sometimes you get them, sometimes you don't. We got it there today and at the end of the day that's the difference between the two teams."
Leinster will now meet Ulster in an all-Irish final at Twickenham on May 19, though they had to do it the hard way on the road.
Coach Joe Schmidt revealed that fly-half Sexton had said at the break to try the play from which they scored inside the opening two minutes of the second half.
"Jonny Sexton spoke of course and called the play that we did right after half-time," said Schmidt.
"He said 'let's do this play, let's get it dead right and we'll score from it'.
"So anyone who doubted at half-time was pretty quickly in full agreement with Jonny when he knocked over the conversion (of Cian Healy's try) as well to give us a one-point lead.
"We also talked about the scrum and the lineout, making sure that we got the ball from those set phases, because we just felt if we could get some good quality we could put them under pressure, like we had done in the first 15 or 20 minutes."
Clermont head coach Vern Cotter was obviously disappointed to see his side lose their first Heineken Cup semi-final in such dramatic fashion.
Brock James kicked all their points, landing five penalties, and they looked to have clinched it late on when Fofana dived over in the closing minutes.
"When we were on top and didn't get a reward at the end, it's difficult. I think it'll take a while for us to get over this game," Cotter said.
"The start of the second half was difficult for us. That's when they came back. We were six points ahead and they scored a try.
"We lost the lead and we were forced to change and to play differently."
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