Boss Dean Ryan insisted he had got exactly what we wanted out of the game as his Dragons lost out 41-20 to play-off chasing Scarlets at Rodney Parade.
The curtain came down on the Guinness PRO14 season for Dragons with tries from Jared Rosser, Taine Basham and Adam Warren in defeat.
However, Ryan – who made ten changes for the game – claimed the game was exactly the experience his young Dragons needed to grow and get better.
“We got what we knew that we’d get,” said Ryan. “I was pleased that they were in it up to 50 minutes because we had eight under-23s.
“That we got dusted in the scrum and drive wasn’t a surprise because we wanted people to experience that.
“The only way that they will get better is by playing at this level and understanding it rather than waiting to experience it.
“I was pleased that we were in contention and I was pleased that we looked quite comfortable with the ball and caused them some problems.
“The damage had been done for that last 20 minutes, when the senior players came off it was difficult to get control.
“But I am not scratching my head, I haven’t got a magic wand and I can’t make a 21-year-old suddenly compete with Ken Owens.
“What a great experience for Chris Coleman, Josh Reynolds, Max Williams, now they know what the challenge looks like and they have to come back and compete with that.
“That was very deliberate about today and now we can look to Bristol.”
Dragons did see a second half try from Rosser chalked off by the TMO, but Ryan insisted it was not a moment that had decided the result.
“The TMO decision was a big swing but I don’t think that it changed the outcome,” he said.
“I am not sitting here saying that because we probably had too much damage done to us by the time we went into the last 20 minutes to really warrant anything.”
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