DRAGONS boss Dai Flanagan admitted the loss to the Sharks was ‘hard to swallow’ – and felt his side shouldn’t have left themselves open to a last-gasp winner.

The Rodney Parade club lost 33-30 to the South Africans in the United Rugby Championship after Fez Mbatha powered over in the 85th minute.

The Dragons did at least have the consolation of a pair of bonuses thanks to tries by flanker Taine Basham, tighthead Chris Coleman, scrum-half Rhodri Williams and lock and captain Ben Carter.

However, head coach Flanagan pointed to conceding a try at the end of the first half when leading 22-5 that was followed by two more Sharks tries soon after the restart.

“There is lots to be optimistic about, but it was that ten-minute blip and some skill set errors that cost us the outcome at the end,” he said.

“It’s a step forward, we took a few more chances this week and the kicking game in the first half was spot on. It gave us entry and energy.

“It’s just hard to swallow when you lose that late on. It’s the other side of it after we beat Ospreys late on.

“We didn’t have to put ourselves in that position if we had been better after half-time. That is the learning for us.

“The try before half-time was a little too easy for them to score, after just scoring ourselves.

“If took them four minutes with the last play to get the win and we are a bounce of the ball away from finishing it off.

“Aneurin (Owen) makes a good read, but the ball bounces the wrong way, and we lose the game. If it bounces another way, we are another five points on the board.”

The Dragons beat the Ospreys on opening day, had a pointless trip to Leinster and then were on the receiving end of a last-gasp loss against the Sharks.

It was a missed opportunity as they attempt to beat last year’s tally of three wins.

“We’re really focused on process not outcome. We must be because we don’t just want to win these games; we want to win a lot more games. If we focus on outcome week by week we will never grow,” said Flanagan.

“Certain parts of the game were positive. Our scrum held out well, our launch attack was good, our physicality was there against one of the most powerful teams in the league. We’ve got to continue to do that.”

The Dragons will monitor full-back Angus O’Brien after he failed a head injury assessment.