Dragons trio Elliot Dee, Aaron Wainwright and Leon Brown all featured as Wales were defeated 22-17 by Ireland in Cardiff on Saturday - despite the hosts threatening with a dramatic late comeback.
In what was a final audition before head coach Warren Gatland – in his final match in charge of Wales on home soil – names his squad to travel to Japan on Sunday, the home side gave themselves too much to do as they trailed 15-3 at the interval.
However, a storming second-half performance very nearly snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Wales scored two tries courtesy of Owen Lane, on debut, and Rhys Patchell with Jarrod Evans and Patchell contributing seven points from the kicking tee.
A brace of tries from Jacob Stockdale – the first capitalising on a wayward pass from Wales – and a penalty try plus five points from the boot of Jack Carty sealed the victory for Ireland.
Brown as a half-time replacement for Wales while Wainwright and Dee - who was inches for a first try for his country - were introduced in the final quarter of the game.
