Boss Dean Ryan hailed the performance of back row forward Taine Basham in the Leinster loss – insisting his star showing should not be lost in the defeat.
Dragons suffered a 50-15 defeat to the Guinness PRO14 champions at the RDS on Friday night, with tries from Jordan Williams and Owen Jenkins.
However, Ryan was still full of praise for Basham, who turned 20 on Saturday, after the forward ran for 57 metres from 12 carries, made 14 tackles.
“I thought Taine Basham was outstanding for a young man in those circumstances. We shouldn’t lose sight of that,” said Ryan.
“Results sometimes can colour some great performances so full credit to him.
“I was pleased for him. He came in and challenged some of the things he did in the game.
“He tried to simplify his game to try and get some of his more physical attributes in. I thought, against real quality opposition, we saw that.
“I don’t want things like that to get lost when results can be all of what you read about.
“In reality, when people look a little bit under the surface, they will see some really good things from people like Taine.”
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I thought Taine Basham was outstanding for a young man in those circumstances. We shouldn’t lose sight of that...
