Ronan O'Gara dedicated La Rochelle's Heineken Champions Cup victory over Leinster to his mother, who wasn't well enough to attend today's game.
"That was Irish spirit with French guts," O'Gara told French TV. "What a team, what pride I feel for the club.
"I am very emotional as my mum is not well and she was unable to be here. This is for her."
La Rochelle clinched their first European final triumph in the last moments, have trailed 24-21 to the Blues who were chasing their fifth title.
Skipper Gregory Aldritt remarked: "This is huge, we thought we could do it and we have done it.
"Nobody believed in us, but we knew we could go all the way. We felt if we hung on to them up to the hour mark that would play in our favour and that's how it played out."
Young scrum-half Thomas Berjon, who came in for the injured Tawera Kerr-Barlow from the start, added: "That is a moment that the club has been waiting for a title.
"We were not favourites but our spirit paid off. That puts La Rochelle on the map of Europe, that is huge, it being our first trophy."
And another young gun, flanker Matthias Haddad, said: "What we have achieved is unbelievable for our club, for our region.
"I only hope it is the beginning. We worked like dogs for this, we were seen as losers/chokers and we have shut up our detractors."
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