Boss Dean Ryan challenged his Dragons to learn the lessons as they were defeated by Bristol Bears in the European Challenge Cup quarter-finals at Ashton Gate Stadium.
Dragons made a flying startl and stormed into a 10-0 lead courtesy of a well-worked try from Ashton Hewitt.
But impressive Bristol cut loose with a devastating three-try burst before the break to wrestle back control.
Another quickfire hat-trick of tries from the hosts late on gave the scoreboard an unfair final look wth battling Dragons posing plenty of questions of Pat Lam’s side.
However, Ryan was keen for his team to learn and be better for the experience as the season came to a close.
He said: “Our big learning curve is around the middle part of the game when they had a scoring burst after we had controlled the first 20 to 30 minutes.
“They get a burst, which they are always capable of with the quality they have, and I think we just lost accuracy.
"We had control but it derailed us. We’ve got to challenge ourselves to be better against sides as good as this.
“I think it gets a bit loose at the end, but it’s a quarter-final and there are no prizes for being close on the scoreboard.
“Our challenge is to be consistently better when we are put under the kind of pressure we were in the middle part of the game.”
Fiji international star Semi Radradra lit up the stadium in the first half as he inspired the quick burst of tries for the hosts.
“You only have to watch he last five or six weeks to know it is going to happen. He is a world class player,” admitted Ryan.
“Full credit to Bristol, they have got some force when it is coming. You can’t take a side with that much firepower and not think it is going to happen.
“It’s how you behave after that. We had opportunities after that spell in the first half. It’s the reaction to those periods that we have got to look at ourselves.
“There is not a lot you can do if Semi gets an offload away, he is world class,” he added.
“But there is so much more we can do to stay in a game longer when playing against a side as good as this.”
Our big learning curve is around the middle part of the game when they had a scoring burst after we had controlled the first 20 to 30 minutes...
