England star Anthony Watson believes the pain of Bath 's European Champions Cup exit can be a driving force in their push to make this season 's Aviva Premiership play-offs . Watson and company were left to reflect on what might have been at Dublin 's Aviva Stadium as six Ian Madigan penalties gave three-time European champions Leinster a tense 18-15 quarter-final success . Bath dominated for large parts of the second period and claimed tries through fly-half George Ford and captain Stuart Hooper , but hopes of reaching a first top-flight European semi-final since 2006 floundered on their indiscipline . Anthony Watson carries during an impressive Bath performance , but the English side came up short . Attention will now quickly return to the Premiership , with Bath having four games left - against Newcastle , London Irish , Harlequins and Gloucester - in the quest for a top-four finish . 'The overriding emotion is that we are absolutely disappointed , ' said Bath full-back Watson , whose counter-attacking brilliance was repeatedly showcased against an often stretched Leinster defence . 'To have battled out of the group as we did ( Bath lost their first two games ) and then obviously to get into the quarter-final , to get so close and then fail at the end , it is obviously massively disappointing . 'But we have to try to take the positives , and I think a disappointment like this is going to help us in the Premiership . ' Bath stayed true to the ball-in-hand attacking principles that have lit up much of this season 's Premiership campaign , and at times , Leinster struggled to cope . Ian Madigan was perfect from the tee to hand Leinster the victory in a game where they were second best . In Madigan , though , they had a relentless marksman , whose 100 per cent goalkicking return ultimately sent Leinster marching on and Bath left to focus solely on domestic matters . 'To put on an attacking performance and go through the phases like we did against a quality side like Leinster is just going to add more confidence , ' Watson added . ' I think the way we have been playing this year has been a revelation to be a part of , and I have really enjoyed playing for this club . ' I think the progress we have made throughout the year has been awesome . I think the ethos and everything we are building at the club is going in the right direction . ' Watson , meanwhile , paid tribute to his Bath and England team-mate Ford , who scored a brilliant solo try and made a darting break that set up Hooper for a second-half touchdown that meant the visitors were always in sight of their opponents on the scoreboard . It was a huge disappointment for Bath , but Watson hopes they can channel the pain to their league campaign . ' I can not speak highly enough of him ( Ford ) , to be honest , ' Watson said . 'He is probably the best ball player I 've played with , albeit in a short space of time of two or three years . 'He has got a very mature head on young shoulders , and it 's a real privilege to play outside him . ' Bath head coach Mike Ford could not mask his disappointment with the result , believing his team paid the price for an opening 40 minutes when they struggled for fluency and kept giving Madigan scoring chances . 'There is a lot of disappointment , ' Ford said . 'The first-half performance , especially , we are a lot better than that . 'That last 10-15 minutes , I was pretty convinced we were going to win the game , but it 's small margins . George Ford scored one try and created anotehr in a superb performance , but it was n't enough . 'At half-time , we talked about composure . 'We had n't been able to build any pressure with ball in hand , and there was also the discipline side of things . Madigan was pretty dead-eye , which cost us . 'We put it together second-half , and I think this will make us stronger . We will look back at the end of the season at this game , particularly , and say this is where Bath became very strong . ' I thought Anthony Watson was on fire at full-back , and George made two good breaks for our tries . It was in our control , we thought . Even at 15-5 down , we were confident we could win the game . ' And Bath skipper Hooper said : 'When you get to this stage of the competition , it is about winning . 'The disappointment is two-fold . One is obviously losing the game and the other is probably the individual mistakes we made , particularly in the first half . '
Bath dominated Champions Cup quarter final against Leinster . But English side came up just short 18-15 , despite scoring two tries . With four Premiership games left , Watson wants pain to spur team on .