Holley, who took over the region in a caretaker capacity at the start of the season, saw his dreams of taking the Swansea-based team to its first ever semi-final go up in smoke after Filo Tiatia’s sinbinning in the 25th minute for illegally blocking a run by Paul Warwick.

“The only thing I can say is that today we were taught a lot of lessons and come second best in every facet of the game, both on and off the field,” said Holley.

“We’ve been well beaten by a champion team. We have to give them a lot of credit. We’re very disappointed. It’s been a very painful experience.

“We went into a quarter-final with huge hopes. We’ve prepared the best that we can.

“Whenever we play Munster, it’s normally close. But it was never close. From the time we conceded a try when Filo got a yellow card, there was only going to be one team in it. Fair play to them, they ran away with it.”