IF we are to laud a side as being one of great promise then it is churlish to swiftly lambast them for not being the here and now.

The challenge, and admittedly is a tricky one after such a crushing defeat as Newport Gwent Dragons suffered at Murrayfield, is to not allow 80 minutes of nightmare rugby to colour our judgement.

Make no mistake, the 45-16 loss to Edinburgh in the European Rugby Challenge Cup semi-final was an embarrassing performance on a big stage.

Paul Turner's side of 2007 emerged with great credit from their last-four clash at the Stade Marcel Michelin when they gave an upwardly-mobile Clermont Auvergne a test before going down 46-29.

But the current crop were outclassed by an Edinburgh side that sit one place and six points above them in the Guinness Pro12 and who were without internationals David Denton, Matt Scott, Hamish Watson, Grant Gilchrist and Greig Tonks.

It was a humbling experience at Murrayfield with an expected tight encounter turning into a rout, the Scots coming out on top in every single facet of the game.

Unsurprisingly the complementary copies of the Scotsman newspaper, featuring a picture of Ben Toolis celebrating his try, went untouched by Dragons players before they boarded the 8.50am Easyjet flight back to Bristol on Saturday morning.

This was a missed opportunity but the reasons for which we were heaping the praise on the Rodney Parade region for last week remain valid – they have some dazzling young talent on their books, they have enjoyed a season of progress, there has been a change of culture courtesy of some excellent wins.

And the frankly defeat in Edinburgh didn't show us much that we didn't already know, it merely hammered home where they need to improve next season and served as a caution note about getting too excited, too early about these Dragons.

The tight game – where the Scottish side have troubled many a side this season – was always going to be a danger area despite the region having make progress this term.

With the benefit of hindsight the decision to change Brok Harris to loosehead at the expense of Phil Price with Dan Way moving to tighthead was the wrong call.

However, all season long the Dragons have been much stronger when featuring Boris Stankovich in the number 1 jersey and it's a risk to rely so heavily on a 34-year-old while the region has been fortunate that South African Harris has proved so durable to play in 21 of 22 games since landing in the UK last autumn.

The suspension of Rynard Landman and injury to his second row partner Andrew Coombs proved to be costly and there remains a lack of depth in the squad, a problem suffered by all four regions and a legacy of years of being underfunded. That will hopefully change in the coming years.

The Dragons inexperience also hurt them with Jason Tovey the oldest back at 25 and the only one whose tally of senior fixtures is into three figures. As a point of reference, the Toulon and Leinster XVs in the Champions Cup semi featured just two players younger than Tovey – 24-year-old prop Xavier Chiocci and 23-year-old back rower Jordi Murphy.

For much of the season the Dragons haven't missed Lee Byrne but the former Lion would've been handy on this occasion, as would either Ashley Smith or Pat Leach in midfield despite the undoubted talent of Jack Dixon and Tyler Morgan, who look sure to go on to earn Wales caps.

But the region had bright prospects in their ranks on Friday morning and they still did at 10pm, those youngsters just need to learn from the chastening experience with the help of some older heads.

"We are a proud bunch and we are a little bit embarrassed by what happened in Edinburgh. We've got to take it on the chin, it happens in sport and we have to put it behind us and move on," said director of rugby Lyn Jones afterwards.

It's now up to the Dragons squad, management and board to ensure that in years to come the trip to Edinburgh on Friday, April 17, 2015 is remembered as a key moment in their development rather than a false dawn.