Head Coach Filo Tiatia admitted it was ‘a game we should have won’ after Dragons battled out a 35-35 draw in a pulsating derby draw with the Scarlets in BKT United Rugby Championship at Parc y Scarlets.
Thomas Young, Brodie Coghlan, Aaron Wainwright and a penalty try saw the Men of Gwent take a try bonus point.
Full back Angus O’Brien also moved into third place in the club’s all-time point scoring charts with a 13-point haul in Llanelli.
But Tiatia admitted it was case of what might have been as the home side hit back late on to share the spoils.
“It’s a game we should have won. We dominated territory and possession for large parts of the game,” he stated.
“I think it was 6-1 in terms of turnovers, so we allowed them have opportunities and they took them. It was one of those games and I was disappointed for the group.
“Derbies are interesting beasts. When you play free and take opportunities, then you can just pull the trigger, but both teams had the handbrake on.
"It was a fourth draw in 18 games and not really a record I want because you can talk about whether they should have been wins."
Reflecting on the campaign, Tiatia added: “A forty-six week season is a long time. We’ve filled it up with games and took opportunities in the Challenge Cup.
“We’ve also seen the growth of the team; in terms of the way we play both sides of the ball.
“The takeout from the season, when we review it, is to be concise around areas we want to keep improving on.
“There is a lot of good in our game, but we need to consistent in how we take it up another level.
“We have work to do, in terms of looking at the finer detail and really narrowing down areas we need to sharpen up so we can apply pressure.”
Derbies are interesting beasts... When you play free and take opportunities, then you can just pull the trigger, but both teams had the handbrake on...
