Dean Ryan admitted his Dragons had showed glimpses of their best rugby in a Euro classic with Gloucester – but conceded the power game of the English side had proved decisive.
The Men of Gwent produced some scintillating attacking rugby in the opening 40 minutes and scored tries through Taine Basham, Jared Rosser and Harri Keddie to take the lead.
But after missing chances after the break it was the Cherry and Whites who turned to power and a huge maul to secure the win - with visiting hooker Santi Socino scoring a hat-trick.
“There were glimpses of our old self as some of the guys came back,” said Director of Dragons Rugby Ryan. “But we missed two opportunities where we could have put the game out of sight.
“We are struggling to compete with the power, that’s not new and we have spent the last four weeks in that same situation.
“Gloucester didn’t do anything. It’s for them to choose how to play but the drive won them the game because we didn’t have an answer, and we have to find one.
“We have to look at different solutions to what is happening to us,” he added. “Our indiscipline and the pressure that puts us under means we are sat in changing rooms when we should have won but haven’t.
“If you could solve it then they wouldn’t go there. When a team is just going to the corner constantly then it’s pretty clear they think they have got an advantage. And they did.
“We’ve got to keep bringing the things that we had in attack but look at different ways to look at our discipline internally and how we hold each other to account.”
Dragons had thrilled a crowd of 5,737 in the opening half with attacking intent and adventure rewarded with a hat-trick of tries.
“There were good things - but we can still be better than that,” insisted Ryan. “It doesn’t matter what the scoreline is and when we have won in the past we have always looked at what we can do better.
“We are not the biggest side, but we have a lot of good footballers and need to play at pace.
“Second half we couldn’t get to that because of the stranglehold that they had on the game.
“There were lots of good things in that first half, but we were still sat in a changing room after a defeat.”
There were glimpses of our old self... But we missed two opportunities where we could have put the game out of sight...
