“I’m really proud of the second half. We’re just not where we need to be in the first half”- 5 talking points: Head coach Filo Tiatia’s reaction to yet another Welsh Derby defeat

Dragons RFC were unable to build on last week’s first half performance as a poor opening 40 at the Parc Y Scarlets proved costly as they fell to an agonising 32-15 defeat.

Captain, Angus O’Brien was the only Dragons player to score in the first half and that came from the tee. The Scarlets who now sit in sixth place in the United Rugby Championship table began 2025 on the front foot as they rushed into a 21 point lead. This came from a brace from Blair Murray and a try from Josh Macleod.

However, Tiatia’s men did respond accordingly in the second half with tries from Taine Basham and Huw Anderson but that proved insufficient after what was an abysmal 40 minutes to begin 2025 for the Dragons

1: “If you’re going to wear the jersey, as a group you’ve got to fill it,” admits Tiatia.

On the game itself Tiatia said: “I was disappointed in the first half. Clearly we weren’t at the races and yeah, we were flat, with no energy both sides of the ball, we conceded soft tries.

“In the second half they were different. They were a different team. So they’re still learning around. Short turnaround is a short turnaround, but you just got to front up.

“If you’re going to wear the jersey as a group, you’ve got to fill it. And what they’ve done in the past has been okay, but it’s just how do we push forward to compete against really good teams.

“So that’s where we’re at,” Tiatia added.

2: Is there a lack of leaders in this Dragons side?

“I wouldn’t say that, but it’s definitely an area that we’re working really hard on. Growing leadership,” said Tiatia.

“And it’s easy to ask people to lead, but sometimes people don’t actually know what they’re leading. So I wouldn’t say that. And then if I would just be really clear that I disagree. So it’s definitely an area of growth.

“There’s no hiding the fact that, you know, just need to keep growing as people and the program just needs to keep growing.

3: A lot of bright young talent on show

There’s one thing that you can’t argue against with the Dragons and that is they are exposing young players on a weekly basis to both the URC and European Rugby. Huw Anderson scored his first URC try in this encounter, Che Hope came on as a tactical change and Dylan Keller-Griffiths came on to make his debut. All three are 21 or younger.

Some other noticeable performances from some of the younger players was Ryan Woodman who had another great showing despite playing outside of his preferred position of six.

Tiatia added: “It’s trying to give everyone an opportunity.

“You just can’t keep playing the same players that normally play because no one grows.

“Some players are not quite ready yet, but you can see where Che came on and he sparked the game up and then even Huw Anderson, who started on the left wing showed some really good moments.

“I thought Rio Dyer had a really strong game today. He worked really hard off the ball. So they’re just giving those guys an opportunity.

“Ryan Woodman was outstanding again. He’s a good young player. We just need to keep an eye on his physical development.

“He’s not quite right ready, but yeah we’ve got a lot of young players that are saying, pick me, and they catch my eye.

4: Is change on the horizon come the summer?

I don’t want to look too far ahead as there is still a lot of rugby to be played from now until then, but from the outside looking in, you have to make the argument that there needs to be a lot changed if the Dragons want to break the habit of losing games.

“Well, it gives everyone an opportunity and we have a lot of pride in this crest and the jersey itself,” he added.

“So it’s not given to everyone, like everything. It’s an opportunity and players that take it, they get the chance to hold the jersey and wear it again. So, yeah, that’s where we’re at. And we’ve got a bit of a break for our next game against Pau at home and we’ll reassess.

“If we perform better in the first half, then we’re in the race and competing. But if we give good teams, like the Scarlets, 40 minutes to do what they want, then it makes it hard to compete and keeping the score.

5: It’s back to Europe for Tiatia’s men

The Dragons will now turn their focus back to the Challenge cup as they welcome Top 14 side Pau on the 12th of January at Rodney Parade. Tiatia’s men have a 50% win record, having so far beaten Newcastle Falcons but couldn’t survive the storm against Montpellier.

Pau themselves have also picked up a win over the Falcons (32-19) but at home and when they travelled to South Africa they fell short, as the Lions recorded a 43-35 win.

Knockout rugby is very much on the table for the ‘Men of Gwent’, but it’s whether they take their opportunities.

Tiatia said: “Every game for us is important and we’re a little bit different to the other teams. And the DNA of this group is the scrappers because we just need to scrap for everything that we get the opportunity.

“And sometimes the person in the middle that’s refereeing, they base some of the things around the ledger and where we were sitting in the table and unfortunately we get, you know, not talking anything unfairly to the referee at all.

“But I’m just saying that’s where we’re at and we are clear what some of the challenges are when we play. But we’ve just got to be clinical and just get our jobs done so we can compete.

“Like I said before, like, I’m not a so much an outcome coach. I’m more of a process coach where we just keep growing and keep getting better.

That’s the job. We just need to keep getting better. You can see if we in the first half we play like we did in the second half, then we’re competing but we didn’t do that in the first half,” Tiatia concluded.