Newcastle's Jonny Wilkinson was said to be 'devastated' after missing a late conversion in their narrow 17-15 Heineken Cup defeat against Leinster.

An 80th-minute try by Va'aiga Tuigamala brought the Falcons to within two points but the normally reliable Wilkinson pulled his conversion attempt wide and Leinster were able to celebrate a 17-15 victory.

Wilkinson, who spent 16 minutes in the blood bin after sustaining a head wound in the second half, stayed on the pitch at the end of the pulsating encounter to gather his thoughts.

"He's devastated for the lads because we deserved at least a draw," said Newcastle director of rugby Rob Andrew. "He's disappointed and upset. "It will take him a while (to get over it). He is hard on himself because this team means a lot to him.

"It was one of those things. He can't kill himself for it. It doesn't happen very often because he's a great player."

Relieved Leinster coach Matt Williams, whose side preserved their 100 per cent record under him this season, was resigned to settling for a point when Wilkinson stepped up to take the kick.

"Everybody in the ground thought it was going to go over," he said. "Jonny rarely misses kicks like that."

Leinster will now take on Toulouse in France on Sunday needing to maintain their unbeaten record in order to clinch a home tie in the quarter-finals.

However, Australian fly-half Nathan Spooner is rated highly doubtful for the crucial tie after picking up a rib injury in the early stages of the Newcastle game.

Meanwhile, the row over the twice-postponed tie continued after the match, with Andrew claiming that the switch of venues to Headingley had given Leinster an unfair advantage and Williams maintaining that parts of the Kingston Park pitch were unfit at the weekend.

"I'm not prepared to go into details but we have abided by the ERC decision," said Andrew. "Kingston Park was playable yesterday and it was playable tonight.

"The outcome has given Leinster an unfair advantage in the competition. But we have done our best. We are happy that we have played the game and we have done ourselves proud."

ERC spokesman Diarmuid Murphy confirmed that Newcastle faced the possibility of a fine after failing to make arrangements for an alternative venue following the second postponement.

Leinster say it cost them £10,000 to charter a plane back to Dublin on Sunday.