The Guinness PRO14 season restarts on Friday, August 21 – and ahead of the resumption we are rewinding the season month-by-month to remind supporters of the state of play. In this edition we go back to the opening month of the league season as Dean Ryan’s men took to the field for the first time…
RYAN URGES DRAGONS TO PLAY SMART
Dean Ryan urged his Dragons to turn pressure into points and look to play smart after defeat in the Guinness PRO14 opener with Munster at a rain-lashed Thomond Park.
Dragons suffered a 39-9 defeat in horrendous conditions in Limerick, with the clinical Irish province claiming a try bonus as they went 18 games undefeated on home soil.
However, Dragons had plenty of opportunities in the home 22 leaving Ryan to ponder what could have been with more cutting edge.
“We got opportunities, but we didn’t take them and I have seen enough games at Munster to know that you don’t get many opportunities,” he said.
“If you don’t take them then you are going to spend a long time trying to get back into the game. “In that first half we probably had two or three in the 22 and came away with nothing, Munster came twice and came away with two scores.
“At half-time I felt that we still had enough shape and in at 25-9, we came away with nothing again. From there on the contest was distorted by us chasing it.
“You have got to score from five metres out. That changes the picture and forces teams to do things differently. They didn’t have to do anything different except sit and wait and score when their opportunities came.
“You sometimes get taught a lesson by Munster in how to get over from five metres, but we do have to learn to play sides that are more physical than us,” he added.
“We’ve got to work out how we stay in those contests a little bit longer. “We know where we are. I haven’t got a magic wand that will get the power game from somewhere, so we’ve just got to keep working on being smart and pray for it to be a little bit drier when we come to places like this and see if we can get better.”
We got opportunities, but we didn’t take them and I have seen enough games at Munster to know that you don’t get many opportunities...
