Dean Ryan: Dragons didn't lose because of TMO call

The Rodney Parade region finished their Guinness PRO14 campaign with a 41-20 loss to the semi-final hopefuls in Newport.

The Dragons, whose tries came from Jared Rosser and Taine Basham in the first half and Adam Warren at the death, showed spirit for an hour before the six-try west Walians stretched away.

MATCH REPORT: Dragons 20 Scarlets 41

However, it was just 26-15 when Rosser thought he had crossed from a breakaway for a second that would have made it a four-point game.

TMO Ian Davies intervened and it was chalked off because Basham had interfered when making his way back to the defensive line in his 22, although Rosser had also looked to have been in front of Rhodri Williams when the captain hacked the ball on.

Dragons centre Jamie Roberts (pictured above), who was a pundit for Premier Sports, said: “An absolute shocker. I really don’t know how that decision is made.”

Director of rugby Ryan was rather more restrained.

“The TMO decision was a big swing but I don’t think that it changed the outcome,” he said.

“I am not sitting here saying that because we probably had too much damage done to us by the time we went into the last 20 minutes to really warrant anything.”

Ryan declared himself pleased with the derby double-header after shuffling his sides rather than going fully-loaded either against the Ospreys, when they drew thanks to Ashton Hewitt’s late score, or the Scarlets.

The Dragons were overpowered at Rodney Parade – as the boss expected after picking young props Josh Reynolds and Chris Coleman plus inexperienced lock Max Williams.

The Scarlets fielded Wales internationals Wyn Jones, Ken Owens, Samson Lee and Jake Ball plus Lewis Rawlins in their tight five.

“We got what we knew that we’d get,” said Ryan, who brought Wales tighthead Leon Brown on for Coleman at half-time. “I was pleased that they were in it up to 50 minutes because we had eight under-23s.

“That we got dusted in the scrum and drive wasn’t a surprise because we wanted people to experience that.

“The only way that they will get better is by playing at this level and understanding it rather than waiting to experience it.

“I was pleased that we were in contention and I was pleased that we looked quite comfortable with the ball and caused them some problems.

“The damage had been done for that last 20 minutes, when the senior players came off it was difficult to get control.

“But I am not scratching my head, I haven’t got a magic wand and I can’t make a 21-year-old suddenly compete with Ken Owens.

“What a great experience for Chris Coleman, Josh Reynolds, Max Williams, now they know what the challenge looks like and they have to come back and compete with that.

“That was very deliberate about today and now we can look to Bristol.”