Dean Ryan laments Dragons' finishing in Cardiff Blues loss

The Rodney Parade region should have gone two from two in the tournament after bossing the second half at the Arms Park on Sunday.

They turned a 10-3 half-time deficit into a 16-10 lead thanks to a try by replacement hooker Rhys Lawrence and the left boot of Sam Davies.

The Blues took the spoils thanks a late try by lock Teddy Williams and Jarrod Evans' conversion with the Dragons having to settle for a losing bonus.

Ryan's men had the advantage of playing 15 versus 13 for a period in the second half after Owen Lane's red card and a yellow for Jason Harries but failed to take their chances in the 22.

09.05.21 - Cardiff Blues v Dragons, Guinness PRO14 Rainbow Cup - Aaron Wainwright of Dragons charges towards the line

"We had a period of pressure when we had numbers on them that we should have taken more of the opportunities," said the director of rugby, whose team host the Ospreys on Sunday.

"It was a very different challenge in the first half when we were getting chewed up at the breakdown and set piece.

"There are times when you go more conservative when struggling at the breakdown and you put more men in, we said to play faster and quicker.

"For that half hour we created loads of opportunities and they didn't know how to cope with us. They probably could have had another five yellow cards for breakdown offences.

"For half an hour I was really pleased with the pace that we can play the game and how that disrupted them.

"I don't think that they had an answer other than haemorrhaging penalties, we've just got to look back and ask why we didn't score more in that period."

The Dragons opened the Rainbow Cup with a seven-try hammering of the Scarlets at Rodney Parade but struggled to open up in the first half against a Blues side that got over the ball.

09.05.21 - Cardiff Blues v Dragons, Guinness PRO14 Rainbow Cup - Jonah Holmes of Dragons looks to get past Hallam Amos of Cardiff Blues

"Against the Scarlets it was an open game against another side that wanted to play fast, that made the breakdown a lot easier," said Ryan.

"Cardiff said that we couldn't do that and we then had to work out what to do. There have been times when people think about getting more people to the ruck and looking after the ball.

"This was a great experience of going 'no, let's play faster and see what happens'. That's a great experience rather than just playing a normal PRO14 type game.

"There are elements of that game that we have learnt a huge amount from because it was against a side that wasn't going to let us go as loose as against the Scarlets.

"We had to find a different way and we gained a lot from that, we are just disappointed that we didn't put it away."

Hooker Lawrence is set for a ban his dismissal for a high shot on Josh Turnbull when clearing out at a ruck.

The 32-year-old returned to the Dragons in the autumn on a deal until the end of the season and scored his first try on his 19th appearance in Cardiff.