NEWPORT Gwent Dragons coach Paul Turner again bemoaned the lack of squad strength after his side went down to a 25-0 defeat at the hands of Perpignan in the Heineken Cup at Rodney Parade on Saturday.

"We were the 23rd qualifying team and we did that by beating an Italian side. The Harlequins were 24th and they have had a miserable time," he said.

"This is the big league and you need big squads, it's the last man standing here. We've played a top side with 12 injuries (it grew to 15 during the game) and they had internationals all over the field so we came under pressure.

"But I still wasn't happy when at 13-0 there was a 14-point swing. I felt one of their forwards was in our back division doing something, but they got away with it and Marty scored, which was the end of the game.

"I was absolutely fuming one of the Perpignan forwards was in our back division and I'll have to look at the video.

"But I was proud of the team in the second half for their committed performances. We had pride to play for whereas Perpignan had something to play for, but we tried to play.

"I spoke to Warren Gatland (the watching Wales coach) after the game and he said that if we had scored to make it 13-7 we would have been right in the game, but a few decisions went against us."

Returning former favourite Percy Montgomery admitted the conditions were difficult. "When the ball is so slippery you have to play it tight, but I'm happy with the result," he said.

"I had some really good times here and it was emotional coming back. We went straight to Cwmbran to train on the AstroTurf there and I only lived nearby at Ponthir, there was even the same lad working there and I only wish I could have brought my family here with me.

"It was only my fourth game back after injury, but there was a bit more pressure on me, though it was nice to get out at Rodney Parade again. There was good spirit and it reminds me a bit of the old Newlands ground in Cape Town.

"The Dragons were completely different, though it was good to see Rhys Thomas, Ceri Sweeney, Michael Owen and Gareth Wyatt still around, as well as some good youngsters. They tried to throw the ball around, but you've got to build a team which is what we did in the World Cup.

"I'm taking it game by game so it was a big plus, we're trying to get better as a team. We've got quite a few players coming back, which should change things."

Man of the match Nathan Hines, the Scotland lock, admitted: "We came here to win then worry about a bonus point after. The pitch was pretty good after all the rain, but it was always going to be tough for us and the forwards played pretty well.

"They (the Dragons) rarely looked like scoring, apart from an awesome tackle put in by Rimas Kairelis, and the commitment from the guys was amazing.

"I think if the game had gone on another five or ten minutes we would have got the bonus point, we tried to pick it up but didn't get it."