Dragons led 9-8 at half-time in Italy courtesy of three penalties from Sam Davies – but had nothing more to offer in the second half.

“We weren’t competitive for long enough to warrant any sort of result,” he told the club website. “The second half, particularly, I don’t think we controlled the ball, either side of it.

“Breakdown-wise, they killed any momentum, but we also couldn’t deal with high balls from them and couldn’t hold on for long enough to get into a game that brings the like of Taine (Basham) and Aaron (Wainwright) to the fore.

“Unless we solve those issues, we can’t impose a game that we are seeking to do. We have got to get better at controlling instances when we are in possession, so we can get to a game we want to play.

“But we also need to be able to diffuse a game that’s coming at us in the air and we weren’t able to do that.”

Dragons have suffered from a lack of matches due to a string of postponements – and have won just one of their 10 matches this season.

“I want [good] performances and they will build to results,” added Ryan. “At the moment, there have been some times when we have clearly not been competitive and times when we have.”

Dragons director of rugby Dean Ryan criticised his side’s lack of competitiveness and control in their 23-9 defeat to Benetton Rugby in Round 3 of the EPCR Challenge Cup.