Boss Dai Flanagan admitted late defeat to Section Paloise in the EPCR Challenge Cup had been ‘painful’ to take – but looked to the positives from a well-rounded performance in France.
The much-changed Men of Gwent – who made nine changes to the starting line-up - looked set to upset the high-flying Top 14 side.
Hooker James Benjamin and flanker George Young grabbed tries while Cai Evans, playing at fly half, landed 11 points.
However, Pau snatched a narrow 24-21 victory in injury time at Stade de Hameau to leave Flanagan admitting it was a European result that was hard to stomach.
“It’s a tough result. It’s painful losing at any time, especially when you look at the two teams and look at the performance,” he said.
“I thought we were well-rounded - we were a good rugby team tonight.
“It’s just disappointing that the three tries conceded, we were in control of all three and we need to be better.
“Pau are having a great season, especially here at home, so the fact we can come out here and rotate our squad a little bit is pleasing, because boys have earned that opportunity,” he added.
“We’re in the middle of a 14-game run and these boys deserve the opportunity. A lot of them have shown they can keep the jersey on the back of that performance."
Dragons rotated the squad in France with the derby season fast approaching.
And while Flanagan was thrilled with how a youthful side stood up, he admitted the theme from the result was a common one this term.
“Our key lesson, and it has been consistent with us, is we won’t solve anything on our own,” he said.
“We are a connected group, we are collectively cohesive, but when the pressure comes on there is one little incident when someone comes out of the system or tries to solve it on their own.
“That doesn’t happen in rugby. It’s a 15-man game and there are prime examples all over the world of the best teams, how cohesive and collective they are.
“We’re getting there. It is just disappointing that we aren’t there after working extremely hard to get it.”
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It’s a tough result. It’s painful losing at any time, especially when you look at the two teams and look at the performance...
