Head Coach Filo Tiatia made no excuses and urged his Dragons to learn and move forward from the heavy defeat to Benetton – insisting ‘we know we are better than what we showed here’.
The Men of Gwent suffered a difficult night at Stadio Monigo in Italy as the hosts romped to a bonus point victory with a both powerful and expansive performance.
Tiatia acknowledged Dragons had been second best as they left empty-handed despite tries from Oli Burrows, Rio Dyer and Shane Lewis-Hughes.
But with a potential crunch clash with Newcastle Red Bulls this coming Friday, he knows there is little time to dwell.
“We didn’t take our moments - we were second best in most parts of game,” he stated.
“I’m disappointed around the performance as a collective. We know that we are better than what we showed here.
“We need to learn from it. We’ll have a deep review and then we’ll move forward.
“We’ve got a short turnaround to Newcastle at Rodney Parade now. We’ve got to take the learnings, move forward and be a lot better back at home.”
Captain Rhodri Williams paid tribute to Benetton’s all court display, but echoed Tiatia’s words that Dragons needed to regroup fast as they return home for a key showdown with Newcastle.
“Full credit to Benetton, they physically dominated that game and got on the front foot,” said Williams.
“We need to be a lot better next week and we need to look forward.
“We’ve a big game back home and we have momentum back there. We need to use that.
“Benetton came at us, got on the front foot and dominated.
“It’s important we take our learnings, but we can’t dwell on this too long. We need to get back home and put the wrongs right.”
We’ve got a short turnaround to Newcastle at Rodney Parade now... We’ve got to take the learnings, move forward and be a lot better back at home.
