“It was definitely up there,” said Schmidt of the performance.

“I do think Biarritz dropped off a bit. If we are allowed to play we really enjoyed playing, I think that was demonstrated on the field today.

“I do think we missed a few things in middle of first half. We missed a couple of lineouts and a five-metre scrum which we got free-kicked.

“They were frustrating platforms to lose at that stage, 10-3 up, we should really have been trying to get that space on the scoreboard that you need against a good side.

“It was not perfect, but there were some little bits of perfection that you would really like to see.”

Two tries from man-of-the-match Jamie Heaslip book-ended an evenly-balanced first half, with Leinster’s precise passing and finishing being the difference at the break.

Dimitri Yachvili’s third penalty in the 37th minute left Biarritz just 10-9 behind, only for Leinster to dazzle in the Dublin sunshine with two late tries.

Jonathan Sexton and Heaslip went over in a blockbusting three-minute burst, the former adding the conversions for a sudden 24-9 interval advantage.

The sin-binning of Takudzwa Ngwenya, early in the second period, signalled the death knell for Biarritz who will miss out on Heineken Cup rugby next year.

Isa Nacewa and Brian O’Driscoll added two more tries for the runaway winners of this semi-final, with Arnaud Heguy’s consolation score cutting the margin to 28 points.

“The first try from Jamie, I thought, was top drawer. You work a long time on those ones to try and get them dead right,” added Schmidt.

“The second try was really good as well. It was a nice short pass from Rob Kearney to Brian O’Driscoll, who was strong in the tackle.

“I just felt today was a big game and the big-game players really did stand up.”

Leinster are competing on two fronts as they chase a league and cup double, requiring a result at home to the Ospreys next week in order to book a home semi-final in the RaboDirect PRO12.

Schmidt said: “I’d like to see us keep going in a similar manner. It’s hard to keep going like that.

“You really have to get up for games like that and what we also demonstrated is that this is a really important European competition to us.

“I think that the quality of teams that were in the eight to start off with was top drawer. I think we have shown the right respect to the competition in chasing it very hard.

“At the same time, I think our supporters have come along and supported us in our quest for what is still a very important piece of European silverware.”

Meanwhile, Biarritz lock Erik Lund felt the closing three minutes of the first half, during which Sexton and Heaslip scored tries, were ultimately the ones which turned the game in Leinster’s favour.

“Those three minutes just killed our chances. Two tries in three minutes and after that we were trying to play our way back into the game, but against a team like Leinster it’s virtually impossible,” he said.

“We watched the videos and we knew what they were going to do. I wasn’t surprised by the things that they did.

“I was a little bit disappointed that we didn’t manage to deal with the first up tackles. We know with Leinster you can’t give them five metres going forward, because they will just play in behind you and they are so quick.”