Boss Dai Flanagan praised the effort and character shown by his Dragons in adversity – but urged the team to be hypercritical to ensure they continue to improve after the defeat to Vodacom Bulls.
Centre Max Clark and hooker Bradley Roberts grabbed tries in the BKT United Rugby Championship loss at Rodney Parade.
The South Africans had threatened to race clear in the first half before the Men of Gwent hit back to cut the lead to just three points at the break.
The Bulls turned to the power game to wrap up the bonus point win in the second half.
But Head Coach Flanagan was keen to focus on the fighting spirit on shown from this team during a gruelling run of fixtures.
“When you play against teams that are that dominant up front you have to be squeaky clean and you can’t make errors to give too many ins," he said.
“The effort and the character was unbelievable and I said to the group that the last six weeks is as tough a block as any individual will go through.
“To go to South Africa for three weeks and come home for six-day turnarounds and then a five-day turnaround is tough.
“We need to make sure we are hyper-critical with how we review this block because that is how we will grow. It’s not just the games, it’s the day-to-day habits.
“Our challenge when we play South African teams is to keep the ball on the field a bit longer but we made a few too many errors to give them exactly what they wanted.
“Rio Dyer, Sio Tomkinson, Steff Hughes, they had some wonderful touches but we need more of it and to express ourselves.
“We are developing what we want to be proud of playing here at Rodney Parade. We just need more of it, and we have got to find it.”
"A year ago, would the Bulls have brought that team to Rodney Parade? I don’t think so," he added.
"There is a reason that teams are coming a lot stronger for us now and we are quite excited by that because we are in games and doing a lot of good stuff.
"We are never going to match them in terms of power. We will always struggle in certain areas of the game against certain teams, but that’s where the rest of our game needs to be spot-on.
"We can’t afford to turn the ball over, knock silly passes on and overplay in certain areas. We were better against the Bulls than we were against the Scarlets."
Flanagan also praised the return of fit-again back row Ollie Griffiths – but vowed to manage his minutes on his comeback.
“It was great to see Ollie back but I am going to look after him, I won’t hide that fact. He is really important to us and we are not going to play him 80 minutes, 80 minutes, 80 minutes,” he said.
“We will manage him correctly because we need him around for a long time. It’s the same for Taine, who hasn’t been back long from a severe elbow dislocation.
“He is all-action and whenever he is around something happens. Those two being back fit means they can share some load.”
The effort and the character was unbelievable and I said to the group that the last six weeks is as tough a block as any individual will go through...
