Coles feels first-half injuries emptied the Saints tank in Cardiff
Alex Coles feels Saints didn't quite have enough left in the tank as injuries hit them hard in Cardiff last Saturday.
Coles produced a gargantuan performance, scoring two tries from the six shirt in the Investec Champions Cup final.
But first-half injuries to James Ramm, George Furbank and Temo Mayanavanua meant Saints ran out of reinforcements during the second half.
And they were unable to score a single point after the break as Union Bordeaux-Bègles registered eight unanswered points to secure a 28-20 win at the Principality Stadium.
“My emotional and physical tank is pretty emptied,” Coles said. “I felt that as a whole we gave so much, it meant so much to us.
“We had people fighting back to get fit for the game, this was our season really.
"I am gutted, it really hurt.
“Initially we rode that adversity really well, the injuries and then two yellow cards in the first half, to go in at half-time (at 20-20) like we did, I think showed how much we cared, how much we wanted it, to stay in that game.
“Bordeaux could bring on fresh legs in the second half and they brought a lot of physicality and energy to the game.
“We probably spent what we had in the tank and it paid dividends because we had no territory really.
“We just kept fighting on our line and credit to us, we did really well.
“We just weren’t accurate enough, weren’t physical enough, and didn’t really have enough in us in the second half to throw many punches of our own.”