Cardiff Blues boss Dai Young admitted Xavier Rush will be almost impossible to replace after he carried the Welsh region into the Amlin Challenge Cup final.
The Blues beat Wasps 18-15 with tries from Leigh Halfpenny and Gethin Jenkins, plus eight points from Ben Blair, to book a title showdown with Toulon in Marseille.
Rush, the former New Zealand international who joins Ulster this summer, was the Blues' driving force as they battled through torrential rain for a deserved victory.
"Xavier was outstanding," said Young.
"He got us on the front foot, which was always going to be the most important thing on a day like this.
"Whichever team got going forward would control the game and Xavier did that for us today. He will be very difficult to replace.
"Obviously we would have preferred a dry track because we have got the players to move the ball - but to win any comp you have to have a B-game as well as your A-game.
"The players deserve all the credit they get. It was never going to be pretty in these conditions but we showed great maturity.
"It could have gone either way at the end but I think we played most of the rugby."
Dave Walder kicked 15 points to keep Wasps in touch throughout - but he could not land the vital 77th minute kick that would have taken the match into extra-time.
The Stade Velodrome is a home from home for Toulon, which reached the final with a victory at Connacht on Friday.
"We knew after the other result that the final would be in France so if we are going to win this we will have done it the hard way," said Young.
"We have had to go and win at Newcastle, then Wasps and now Toulon.
"But this team have the self belief and mental toughness to go to places and win."
Wasps were leading when Simon Shaw was sin-binned early in the second half, having already been warned by the referee.
While Wasps was down to 14 men, the Blues launched a powerful drive and Jenkins burrowed over to score.
"We are not going to enjoy watching the final. The yellow card hurt us," said director of rugby Tony Hanks.
"Simon has been important to us in defending the driving lineouts and you don't just fill the void of Simon Shaw for 10 minutes.
"They took their opportunities and we did not make enough of ours."