THEY may have suffered defeat but in the grand scheme of things it was mission accomplished for Newport Gwent Dragons in Bridgend last Friday night.

The Dragons were beaten 26-21 in the LV= Cup by the Ospreys at the Brewery Field, a result that leaves them needing a miracle to make the knockout stages.

But prior to the game 13 of the matchday squad had yet to make it into double figures in terms of Dragons appearances and the average age of the starting line-up was 23.

A similar formula will be adopted when Saracens head to Rodney Parade on Friday night (kick-off 7.30pm).

"We went into the Ospreys game with a strict plan and didn’t want the way that the game was going to affect that," said defence coach Rob Appleyard.

"We needed to get the youngsters out there along with a couple of guys coming back from injury, like Will Harries and Andy Tuilagi.

"It was important to see the form of Steffan Jones and Lewis Robling, who are both in the battle for the fly-half spot, while I thought young Ieuan Jones showed up well at number eight.

"Darren Waters was also excellent in the back row, he’s a real workhorse and proved what he could do in tough conditions on a tacky pitch.

"We let some easy tries in but on the whole we are pleased and will have a good review ahead of Saracens.

"We want to give the boys some continuity and there will be similar faces out and hopefully they can give us another good performance."

The Dragons did claim a losing bonus point in Bridgend thanks to a last-gasp try by Wales Under-20s centre/wing Luke Williams, his first in regional rugby.

And Appleyard believes that score gives real reason for encouragement ahead of the clash with Saracens, who featured World Cup-winning captain John Smit at prop, Ireland veteran Peter Stringer at scrum-half and rugby league convert Joel Tomkins in their clash with Worcester.

He said: "Against the Ospreys we knew that there would be mistakes, we knew that there would be combination changes, but I wanted to see some passion and commitment for the Dragons badge.

"What brought it back a little bit for us was the try at the end because that showed the boys didn’t drop their heads.

"There were some out there playing at the highest level they had played – Dan Hodge from Cross Keys, Josh Tyler from UWIC in Division One – and they came in and kept going against an Ospreys side that played well."

The Dragons will be forced into some changes for Friday night because scrum-half Jon Evans and Williams will be in Wales Under-20s action in Ireland.

l If the Dragons are to repeat last year’s LV= Cup group win then they need to beat Saracens by a bonus point, scoring an avalanche of tries, and then hope Northampton and Exeter suffer (unlikely) heavy home defeats to Wasps and Bath respectively.