AT least there’s only one way to go for Newport Gwent Dragons after their opening day debacle.

And if it’s any consolation, which I’m sure it isn’t, coach Paul Turner may be shaking his head in disbelief at what happened in Galway on Saturday night but he should take a glance across the Severn Bridge at one of his former stamping grounds.

For a well established club like Gloucester travelled west to new boys Exeter in the renamed Aviva Premiership and came a cropper against a team expected to be the division’s whipping boys.

Or he might look to the west in this part of the world where Scarlets opposite number Nigel Davies will be analysing what went wrong after his team came unstuck in Treviso when the Italians made their debut in the Magners League.

Crumbs of comfort perhaps, but that’s all they are after a performance which Turner called unacceptable – the same word Gloucester counterpart Bryan Redpath used after their setback.

It was probably worse in the case of the Dragons, for they didn’t just lose they were well and truly stuffed, going down to their heaviest defeat at the Sportsground and conceding a bonus point as Connacht exceeded even their wildest expectations.

Their ground runs alongside a cemetery and some of the Dragons players looked as though they belonged more there than on the actual rugby pitch, such was the paucity of their performance.

Trying to pick any positives out of the ruins is difficult, but there were a number of players only just returning from serious injury after summer operations and clearly lacked match hardness and match fitness.

Some like Rob Sidoli and Gavin Thomas hadn’t played even for a moment in any of the pre-season friendlies while others like acting captain Luke Charteris and Dan Lydiate had experienced only limited game time. Others were not there at all.

And key man Jason Tovey struggled for much of the match after suffering a bad high tackle at the hands of home No 8 Ezra Taylor.

But too many players underperformed while Connacht played with typical vigour and endeavour which, sadly for the Dragons, proved sufficient to take the spoils with ease.

One area of particular concern – and it’s not the only one – is defence. For the Dragons conceded four tries following on from three in the Martyn Williams testimonial match against Cardiff Blues and three against London Irish.

And last season their defensive record was one of the worst in the Magners League. Clearly it’s not getting any better and Colin Charvis, the man responsible, won’t even be around this week as he is bound for Mount Kilimanjaro along with a host of other former Welsh captains plus national coach Warren Gatland as part of a charity exhibition to raise funds for cancer research.

Now that’s a very noble cause, and no-one’s going to criticise anyone for aiding it. In fact, some of the Dragons players might consider donating some of their salary to the charity if they have any conscience after such a shocking display.

There will be a chance of redemption this weekend when Glasgow visit Rodney Parade, a team the Dragons are well capable of beating at home – they have to if they are to restore some confidence heading into two Welsh derbies against Cardiff Blues and the Scarlets.

The Scottish team did make a winning start when they came from behind to narrowly beat former champions Leinster, but they shouldn’t really pose too many problems for the Dragons on Sunday.

They have lost two of their best players with Dan Parks joining the Blues and Kelly Brown now with Saracens while skipper and lock Alastair Kellock, scrum half Chris Cusiter and flanker John Barclay are all long term injury absentees.

It’ll be interesting to see what Turner does with his squad this week, whether he gives them another chance or whether he drafts in new players like Adam Hughes.

His options are limited, still with a small squad compared with many, but something needs to be done, for while it’s only one game the performance in Galway was so bad that the alarm bells are ringing already.