STAND-IN boss Gordon Ross praised the Dragons for standing toe-to-toe with Munster but said they failed to match composure with enthusiasm in a 28-16 defeat.

The region suffered a third loss of the Guinness PRO14 season to Irish opposition despite tries from Sam Davies and Matthew Screech.

Munster looked set for a routine win at Rodney Parade when they went 18-3 up after 25 minutes but the Dragons showed more spirit than they did away to Leinster and Ulster.

It wasn’t until Matt Gallagher scored his second try of the game that the Conference B leaders were absolutely certain of taking the spoils.

Backs coach Ross, holding the reins because director of rugby Dean Ryan is self-isolating after a member of his management team tested positive for coronavirus, was pleased with the improvement from Belfast.

South Wales Argus:

“I am really proud of the group because last week in Ulster we struggled physically. We really stood up to Munster and in terms of physicality we were excellent,” said the former Scotland fly-half.

“Unfortunately through our enthusiasm and energy we weren’t composed enough at times on both sides of the ball. We gave away a few penalties that gave them easy outs and then when we had opportunities we weren’t clinical enough.”

The Dragons will hope to avoid an Irish whitewash when they entertain Connacht on Saturday evening.

“Hopefully conditions will be a bit better and it will give both sides an opportunity to play a bit more with ball in hand,” said Ross, who will be in charge again.

“We need to be more accurate when we do have the ball because we were a little bit sloppy at times.”

More from Ross tomorrow