NEW boss Dean Ryan won't let his Dragons get carried away after encouraging summer signs and has stressed their five-try win against the Scarlets is merely a starting point, writes Chris Kirwan.

The Rodney Parade region tuned up for their Guinness PRO14 opener with a 34-17 win in Newport with scores coming from wings Ashton Hewitt, Owen Jenkins (2) and Will Talbot-Davies plus fly-half Sam Davies.

The sole disappointment of the promising performance was an early injury for Samoa lock Brandon Nansen, who lasted just 13 minutes before leaving the field with his right forearm in a makeshift sling.

The Dragons have won just seven league games in the last two seasons but, even though there have been plenty of new dawns at Rodney Parade, hopes are high of brighter times ahead.

South Wales Argus:

Asked if it was now a case of ensuring nobody – players and supporters – got carried away, director of rugby Ryan said: "You've got to help me out! It's not about keeping our feet on the ground after a friendly, it's about keeping feet on the ground for a long time.

"We have got a lot of work to do and teams don't come from new voices and from one-off results, they come from months and years of good investment, good support, good environment and a willingness from the group to get better.

"We have that and just have to start that journey together."

South Wales Argus:

Nonetheless, it was an encouraging first performance under Ryan ahead of the September 28 trip to Limerick.

Flanker Ollie Griffiths was to the fore while the midfield partnership of Jack Dixon and Adam Warren was vital in the first four of the five tries.

"I am pleased, we worked really hard. It was our first hit out and we saw some of those combinations come together after training hard," said Ryan.

"I was pleased with how much effort we put in and there are some bits that we can better at and we can learn as a team.

"It wasn't about specific moments, it was just about dealing with things when they don't go well and how we worked our way through it.

"This group has challenged itself to keep learning because they recognise that they have got a long way to go. As a starting point, we know where we are."

"It's not about positives and negatives, it's about knowing where we are starting from and knowing how hard we have got to keep working.

"There are lots of things against the Scarlets that we didn't do very well and we have to improve in those areas, because other days that will take the game away from us, then for all the good things we do we will find ourselves on the wrong end of results.

"It's just a good starting point. We have played together now after a long pre-season, so we now know the areas we can focus on to get better."