The combined forces of Antoine Dupont, Thomas Ramos and Romain Ntamack off the kicking tee ensured it was Toulouse who progressed into the penultimate phase of the competition, but van Graan was satisfied that Munster died with their boots.

“Firstly, I’m incredibly proud. Today was what Munster rugby is about. To lose it like that, that’s unfortunately sport, that’s the way the rules are. Somebody’s got to kick it over and somebody’s got to miss. If ever there’s a day to sum up Munster rugby, it’s today. A community of 40,000 people travelling,” van Graan said.

“It was certainly one of the best rugby games I’ve been involved with. I said to my wife there, from a feeling point of view, this was like the World Cup semi-final in 2015 that I was involved with that we [South Africa] lost 20-18 against the All Blacks. That feeling that we gave it all we got, the players gave it all they’ve got. Management, staff, the people of Munster gave it all they’ve got.

“We’ve got to know that this is a game. Everybody associated with Munster rugby will be incredibly proud of the 23 guys that stood up and fought today. We left the hotel saying ‘to the brave and faithful, nothing is impossible’. We could have won it in the final play of the game, had one or two opportunities, but it’s gone now. The sun will come up tomorrow morning.”

Whereas Toulouse’s aforementioned triumvirate registered four successful efforts in a dramatic place-kick duel, Conor Murray and Ben Healy (two) had wayward shots at goal that ultimately saw the Reds falling short on a margin of 4-2.

Joey Carbery found the range with his solitary strike in the shootout, but the coach swiftly moved to put an arm around the shoulders of Murray and Healy in the aftermath of a devastating defeat.

“They’re obviously gutted, but as I said a few weeks ago we’re all in. Win together and lose together. All you can ask is that guys give it their all and that’s what they’ve done, to put us in a position to go against the European Champions, in a cauldron like that. Nobody on the pitch, not the referee, not Toulouse, have been in a situation like that.

“We actually spoke in the week about the possibilities of extra time, the number of tries. We were prepared for it. It comes down to literally a kick. It was a horrible way for the game to end from a Munster perspective, but Toulouse are one of the true great European clubs, all credit to them. Munster and Toulouse are two incredibly special clubs to be involved with.”

While experienced faces like Murray, Peter O’Mahony and Keith Earls produced some big moments throughout, van Graan also reserved praise for some of the younger players within his ranks – such as try-scorer Alex Kendellen and replacement lock Thomas Ahern.

“Whether it was Earlsy who had a phenomenal few weeks at his age, or Kendellen or Thomas, I’m incredibly proud of them. If I look at the last few years how our guys have grown into this group. Yes there are a lot of guys who weren’t available, but as a group we didn’t even speak about it. It’s next man up, that is the mantra of the last three seasons. We’re incredibly proud to coach players like that and for them to experience things like this. The man on the street never experiences what these 23 men went through today. They’ll remember it for the rest of their lives. One kick is the difference and I am proud of them.”