BERNARD Jackman praised the heart shown by his Dragons side but lamented their inability to win the big moments in a 29-17 loss to the Cheetahs.

The Dragons led 10-3 at the break in the Guinness PRO14 clash at Rodney Parade thanks to wing Ashton Hewitt’s try but saw their line crossed four times in the second half.

The South African play-off hopefuls took the spoils despite the hosts having plenty of opportunities inside the 22, Wales hooker Elliot Dee’s close-range try all they had to show for their toil.

“Key moments we lost our concentration,” said Jackman. “We showed a lot of fight, pride and worked hard.

“The first half was excellent for 10-3 at half-time and we wanted to push on and do more of the same.

“To concede a try from the kick-off [was frustrating] and is something that has been in our game a little bit, that lapse of concentration to drop the kick-off and miss touch. That let them back into the game and gave them confidence.

“We had plenty of possession and territory but just five yards out we lost the ball in contact. We put in a huge effort but physically they are an older and more experienced team that man for man were more powerful than us.

“It’s all well and good having heart and courage but if you don’t nail those moments then it’s hard to gift a team 29 points and come back.”

The Dragons fielded three of the Wales squad from the Under-20s Six Nations – flankers Taine Basham and Max Williams plus scrum-half Dan Babos – while promising fly-half Arwel Robson played the full 80 minutes.

“I thought that our youngsters were excellent and Arwel Robson for the first 55-60 minutes looked very comfortable at that level,” said Jackman.

“We expected that and have waited for him to come back from injury, because he is a really exciting prospect.

“It was a big ask for him to play 80 minutes and he tired in the last 20 but we hope that we can get some good game time for him until the end of the season, because we think a lot of him.”