Head Coach Dai Flanagan pulled no punches as he reflected on derby defeat to Ospreys – admitting his side had let themselves down and taken a massive step back at Swansea.com Stadium.
Centre Sio Tomkinson saw red as the Men of Gwent were beaten 37-18 in the BKT United Rugby Championship clash.
Flanagan acknowledged after the clash that Dragons overstepped the mark in the loss. And he warned his side could ill afford any repeat in Europe next weekend.
“There was some behaviour out there that we don’t stand for,” said Flanagan.
“We know what we’ve done, we’ve missed a beat and we’ve let ourselves down collectively. We have got to get better.
“That is a massive step back and we’re all disappointed with the show we put on.
“I’ll never question the effort. We were excited to come here and fire into the Ospreys. But we overstepped that mark.
“We had to respect the home set piece; we spoke all week about not giving them a set piece to set piece game. But let’s be honest, that is what we did,” he added.
“We have a style of play, we need to put high ball in play and our team are energetic, but we weren’t right.
“That is the first time since I’ve been here that I’ve seen that type of performance. That is what I have said in the changing room.
“I’m sure it will be a one-off. We were down to 14 men with 38 minutes to go and managed to score two tries. But it is not enough.
“We can’t keep talking about good stuff on the back of effort. That is not effective. It’s managing the game and becoming better with results.”
On the red card, Flanagan added: “I have no arguments. Sio is an aggressive player, he thought he could make a read, but he has mistimed it.
“You know when you are coming a long way you have got to drop your height. He has just mistimed it so there is no argument.
“Sio and Ross (after his first half yellow) have stood up and taken ownership for the cards. That’s important, that you take ownership for your decisions and your mistakes.”
Dragons are next in action in Scotland on Saturday (April 1) when they face Glasgow Warriors in the knockout stages of the EPCR Challenge Cup.
And Flanagan was direct in his assessment of what needed to be better ahead of that last 16 encounter.
“We must raise ourselves because we are basically playing against Scotland. If we perform like that, it will be a tough day,” he stated.
“The Ospreys were good at what they needed to be – set piece.
“Next week Glasgow will have Scotland and we all enjoyed watching them in the Six Nations and how they moved the ball.
“If we can’t match the set piece and are not disciplined then they will have entry after entry and will score more points.
“It will be a tough game away at Glasgow. They will have plenty of internationals on show and we need to be better, or it could be a tough day.
“We’ll work hard, we will stick together, and we’ll go again next week.”
I’ll never question the effort... We were excited to come here and fire into the Ospreys... But we overstepped that mark...
