Head Coach Dai Flanagan praised the manner in which his Dragons took the fight to DHL Stormers – but admitted a cruel late injury to Angus O’Brien had hit victory hopes.
The Men of Gwent ended the BKT United Rugby Championship season with a 44-21 loss on home soil.
Flanagan’s men had led after an hour before a late try burst from the South Africans sealed a try bonus to enhance their play-off hopes.
“The injury to Angus (O’Brien) at the end killed us,” admitted Flanagan, as his team as forced into a major back line reshuffle.
“Angus has had no luck this season. He will want the season gone so he can rest and recover and fly into the next one.
“The good news is it’s a new injury, the bad news is it’s another one. It’s not through lack of effort, but sometimes you just have these seasons.
“Everything we spoke about in the week we executed for 65 minutes,” he added.
“We ran at the seams they were leaving, kept the ball and our collision was very good. We turned them with line speed defence.
“I thought Dane (Blacker) set the tone and kept pushing them back when they tried to blitz.
“But the last 15 minutes we did everything we said we wouldn’t do.
“We were offloading, going backwards, feeding them, and not killing the ball. Unfortunately missed tackles hurt us.”
Reflecting on the season and a number of narrow losses on home soil, Flanagan added: “There is a mental and physical side to it.
“Physically, if we can do that for 65 minutes, why can’t we do it for 75 or 80?
“But losing is a habit, like winning is a habit, and we need to turn the tide.
“I thought Will Reed stepped up, stuck to a game plan, and he has been under a lot of pressure being our only fit ten this season. He will play again now.
“I love him to bits because he keeps fronting up every week and getting better. If he has a blip he comes back better.”
Dragons now face two Welsh derby games with Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium next Saturday before Judgement Day against Scarlets.
And Flanagan is determined the season will not end with a whimper.
“We have two derbies to finish the season and that is superb,” he stressed.
“We had a shot at knocking Connacht off and, unfortunately, we didn’t get there.
“We had a shot at knocking Stormers out and didn’t get there.
“I love Toby Booth to bits, Rich Kelly, Richard Fussell and Marc Jones. But it would be nice to upset their plans for the play-offs and that is our target this week coming.
“We have got nothing to lose going down to the Liberty after last season. It’s an opportunity to go and express ourselves.
“Players like Ryan Woodman, Dan Lydiate, Ben Carter and the Rosser brothers will be back, so we will have some selection headaches. That is a nice problem to have.”
Angus has had no luck this season... He will want the season gone so he can rest and recover and fly into the next one...
