FOR Newport Gwent Dragons captain Lewis Evans, the experience of reaching another European Challenge Cup semi-final is only going to benefit the region’s young stars in the long run.

Like head coach Kingsley Jones, openside Evans was proud of his side’s display during their 22-12 defeat to Montpellier at the weekend.

And while he too feels the Dragons can learn a lot from the loss, he also reckons there were positives to take into the remainder of the season and beyond.

“I’m really proud of the boys, they fought right to the death, and one day we are really going to start turning some heads,” he said.

“We’ve been talking about learning harsh lessons for quite some time but I think it will come eventually, we just need to tighten up that set-piece and kick our points.

“It’s something we’ve got to learn from again, but as far as reflecting on this season, there are definitely a lot of positive things for us to take and it just shows what we’re capable of doing when we play.

“If we’d had a better first half and gone in with a few more points at half-time it would have been a different game.

“They would have played differently and the pressure would’ve been on them if our line speed and defence could have stayed as good as it was.

“And without conceding the penalties, they would have forced something, and you never know what could happen.

“For Hallam (Amos) and Tyler (Morgan), going to Montpellier away for a semi-final, they are only going to benefit from that in the long-term as well.”

The Dragons paid the price for conceding several first-half penalties and missing a couple of kicks at goal themselves.

Giving Montpellier a 12-0 half-time lead proved crucial and Evans admits that it felt like a real chance of making next month’s final was lost.

“We came up against a superstar XV bursting with South African and French internationals and I thought for a fair bit of the game we certainly had parity, if not on top,” he added.

“But they are probably one of the most direct and tight French teams in the league.

“They have got some attacking and exciting backs but what they are good at is scrums and set-piece driving mauls.

“For me, it was down to that start, and even though we weathered the storm initially and were only 3-0 down after 20 minutes, we went in 12-0 down.

“We won the second half but because we conceded 12 points to give them an easy start it was an uphill battle from there.

“If we’d kicked those points, hadn’t given away some of the penalties, and taken one or two more chances, it could have been a different result.”