Interim Head Coach Filo Tiatia admitted Dragons paid the price for a poor opening half as they slipped to a 38-19 defeat to Munster in a bruising BKT United Rugby Championship encounter at Rodney Parade.
The Men of Gwent found themselves 31-0 down at the break in the league encounter before rallying in the second period.
Chris Coleman, Harry Wilson and Dane Blacker grabbed second half tries as Dragons chased a try bonus point late on.
But it was to no avail as Tiatia reflected on a first half display that had cost his side.
“Munster played well, but I thought defensively we were poor in the first half,” he stated.
“When we got it right, we could control the momentum, but I thought they controlled it for the first 40 minutes.
“We made some adjustments in the second half, we found some solutions and it was a better defensive display, better character around the things we know we are capable of.
“They didn’t give up, right until the final whistle, but there are parts of the game that we need to sharpen up.
“First half that is my fault around our D. Some things we didn’t quite get right, and we were better in the second half in most parts of the game.”
A difficult night for Dragons was compounded by injuries as Taine Basham and Rodrigo Martinez were forced off inside ten minutes while Harri Ackerman and Ryan Woodman also exited before the hour.
“We’ve had a couple of HIAs and we will have to assess where we are at,” said Tiatia. “Rodrigo was unfortunate that he got a body on his knee. We will see.
“We have small squads, and we have a lot of our senior players still out injured. We must work with the players we have and keep improving them. It is a different level and there is a lot of hard work to do.
“It’s always a challenge when you are not getting the results,”he added. “We played against a very good Munster side, particularly in the first half, but we showed signs when we get it right we can put teams under pressure.”
Munster played well, but I thought defensively we were poor in the first half... We made some adjustments in the second half, we found some solutions and it was a better defensive display...
