Head Coach Filo Tiatia reflected on a missed opportunity and a game his Dragons ‘could have won’ as Zebre Parma battled back to claim a 31-21 win in the BKT United Rugby Championship in Italy.
The Men of Gwent had impressed as they tore into a 21-7 lead at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi after tries from Brodie Coghlan (2) and Joe Westwood.
But a quickfire double from the Italians either side of the break saw them draw level before they edged clear to leave Dragons empty-handed from a game they dominated for long spells in the first half.
“It was a game that we could have won,” admitted Tiatia.
“We dominated most of the first half, applied a lot of pressure, but the last couple of minutes we let them back in and that took the pressure off.
“Second half we had moments when we could have still won the game or got close to drawing, but we weren’t clinical enough or hold onto moments.
“We put ourselves in good positions to win the game, but we just let them back in and it got away from us.
“They were a man down towards the end, but we turned the ball over too easy. We had them under pressure and missed out on points.
“At the end of the day, they were a better team than us around how they won the game, so we’ve still have got lots to learn.
“We started well. We did that against Glasgow too when we put them under pressure and all the players are working hard to keep improving," he added.
“There are signs of shifts around how we stay in moments, but it is still a work on, with fatigue and how we fight through it.
“We know how we want to play. We saw some good glimpses of the way we can attack and how we get the ball back defensively.
“But we’ve still got a lot of work to do. We are under no illusion, but we have got an opportunity to freshen up next week and then three weeks until we play Ulster to try and get players back and form competition.”
Tiatia did highlight club debuts for Wales Under-20s duo Harri Ford and Owain James as big positives plus the performance of Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths.
The young front rower was given his first start after the withdrawal of Rhodri Jones and impressed for 78 minutes against a well-drilled Italian pack.
“I was super stoked for both Harri (Ford) and Owain (James) and we celebrated after the game in the shed around debuts for the club,” said Tiatia.
“I am pleased for both, and we saw moments from them when they came on. There is some good stuff to build on.
“I was also really happy with DKG. It was his first start in the URC, after Rhodri (Jones) was forced out, and he took his opportunity,” he added.
We dominated most of the first half, applied a lot of pressure, but the last couple of minutes we let them back in and that took the pressure off...
