THERE will be no panic and no alarm bells, vows Newport Gwent Dragons captain Jason Forster (pictured) after Friday night's shock 24-14 reverse at the hands of a Welsh League Premier Division XV.
The Dragons went 24-0 down early in the second half, and though the semi-professional combined team had a player yellow-carded, the Dragons still couldn't win.
It was an ignominious start to the rugby union career of new Dragons coach Chris Anderson, the former Australia rugby league coach, though he stressed afterwards that it was a trial match and he learned more in defeat than he would have by a runaway victory.
Forster watched the match from the sidelines, but insisted: "There won't be any alarm bells and there's no panic."
Giving an insight into why the Dragons lost, he explained: "Chris has got his training schedule and he hasn't tapered it down. Some players did 400 and 800m runs the day before the match, and we did scrum and line-out sessions only the day before as well.
"There are no excuses, we expected to win and all credit to them, they were up for it and they scored some nice tries. They deserved it.
"But Chris isn't looking too far ahead, we were ring-rusty and things didn't come off. It was a trial and things happen in the first game, but we'll regroup."
Anderson played the defeat down, saying: "I've been in the game 30 years and you get beat, but we'll kop that. It was a trial and I'm not going to over-react.
"I didn't know what to expect, but I've got a bit more knowledge about where we are now. It was not satisfactory and we've got some work to do.
"We handed over a lot of ball and in some ways we tried too hard. Maybe we thought we would walk out and it would just happen. It was a good lesson for us. Now it's about where we need to go from here."
The Dragons travel to leading Zurich Premiership team Northampton on Saturday, the opposition boosted by the arrival of former South Africa captain Corne Krige.
The Dragons have a concern at loose head prop. Adam Black suffered a back injury on Friday and Rod Snow has yet to resume after a minor knee operation.
Percy Montgomery kicked 15 points from three penalties and three conversions as South Africa gained a bonus point 40-26 victory over New Zealand at Ellis Park on Saturday.
Next Saturday's game against Australia in Durban will decide the outcome of the Tri Nations.
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