Filo Tiatia brands Dragons players 'selfish' in defeat to Montpellier

Dragons head coach Filo Tiatia has criticised his team’s lack of cohesion, describing moments in their Challenge Cup defeat to Montpellier as ‘selfish’.

The Welsh side suffered a 18-14 loss at Rodney Parade and Tiatia did not hold back in his post-match assessment.

Taine Basham and Angus O’Brien scored first-half tries as Dragons fought back from 18-0 down to trail by four at halftime, but a scoreless second half saw them miss opportunities and settle for a single point in their Pool 2 opener.

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“The mood is quite sombre and the realisation of opportunities missed again,” said Tiatia.

“We weren’t clinical enough, and there were some moments where we did not play as a team. We were actually selfish in some of the actions and we just have to learn faster.”

“The character of the team and the DNA of this place is Gwent and blue collar. They try and work hard for each other and we managed to get back into the game.

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“We’ve just got to review it and be honest with each other, focus on some of the things that we need to be better at.

“You see moments that were much better than last week, some of the young guys learnt some valuable lessons and they will be better for it.”

Despite the defeat, Tiatia highlighted the value of blooding younger players in the squad.

“We want to expose some of our youth,” he added. “Some of them are not quite ready yet, but at some point they have got to be exposed, otherwise they won’t get a chance.

“All the Welsh teams have got small squads and we’ve got to try and rotate players around so we can be better. They always want to be better.”

Looking ahead to their next Challenge Cup fixture, Dragons face Newcastle Falcons in Round 2 on Sunday, November 15.

“Newcastle are similar to our region, they are tough and a hard-working team that play percentages,” Tiatia said.

“We’ll have a good look at them, and it’ll be interesting to see what side they put out.

“But they will be tough up there and we are under no illusions as to the size of the assignment next Sunday.”