NEWPORT Gwent Dragons coach Paul Turner was left to reflect on the proverbial game of two halves after their 41-24 defeat by London Irish on Saturday, bad defensive mistakes in the opening 40 minutes and some glorious rugby after the interval.

"We can't get it so defensively wrong and expect to win. I was pleased with the second-half performance, but the way we played in the first half was not acceptable," he said.

"The boys responded to an old-fashioned team talk at half-time, and we had so many injuries that we ended up with three or four Academy players on the field. It was a tough learning curve," said Turner.

"It's a great track here, the pitch was outstanding and if you can't get your hands on players like Peter Richards and Shane Geraghty you're in trouble. The way we conceded tries was soft.

"We got into positions, but we weren't patient or composed enough. We need to spend more time in opposition territory, we got to within ten points of them and then came the crunch.

"We didn't control the ball, we kicked it away and they nailed it again with another seven points. I'm still quite pleased with our progress, though we got what we deserved with the way we defended in the first half.

"Joe Bearman is playing some outstanding rugby for us and people like Ben Daly were immense out there and a bonus point was welcome in a dead situation."

Backs coach Dai Rees admitted: "We were caught in the headlights in the first half, it was a bit like at Rodney Parade.

"The substitutes London Irish made with quality players like Peter Richards and Peter Hewat gone allowed us to get momentum, and at 34-24 perhaps if we could have scored next we may have been in with a shout. But their late score sealed our fate.

"London Irish play a momentum game and Richards and Shane Geraghty gave them that. If we could have stopped Richards playing we could have been in the game."

London Irish director of rugby Brian Smith said: "I was happy with the first 40 minutes and to get four tries before half-time was an important bonus.

"It was a reality check after that, but the most important thing was that we stayed in control of the group and we're in the best position we've ever been in the Heineken Cup.

"If we were flawless for 80 minutes there was a chance we'd go to Treviso and be complacent. We can't be that loose and it proved we've got to respect our opponents for 80 minutes."