United Rugby Championship: Dragons boss Dean Ryan reflects on first win in six months

Dragons players celebrate the victory against Scarlets

Dragons director of rugby Dean Ryan says a first win in six months was a reward for the hard work of the region.

Dragons scored five tries to seal only a second win in the 2021-22 season and a first victory at Parc y Scarlets.

"I'm more pleased for others, for people that work so hard, fans, the chairman (David Buttress)," said Ryan.

"The players have had moments like that and not been able to close it out so they deserve their time in the sun enjoying that."

Dragons' only other victory this campaign was against Connacht in October 2021 as they ended a 13-match winless sequence.

• Scarlets 27-38 Dragons

Ryan believes some of his players deserved greater recognition.

"Some of our big players stood up," added Ryan.

"Will Rowlands was outstanding along with Ben Carter, who is still a young man let's not forget.

"Derbies are about internationals standing up and about those who work on the fringes being noticed, and we did all that.

"I've been saying for weeks to take notice of Jack Dixon but for some reason you have to play well against the Scarlets to get noticed. Harrison Keddie the same."

Dragons trailed 27-21 with 10 minutes remaining before capitalising on a yellow card for Scarlets wing Corey Baldwin by scoring 17 unanswered points.

"This time we got a few moments that took the game away from the Scarlets," added Ryan.

"We talked last week about being bolder when we are ahead because we handed a lot of possession back to Gloucester and then couldn't stop them.

"Sometimes you can't stop what the other side has got but this time we could.

"We solved their drive when they tried to come after us and they didn't really have an answer."

Dragons face Scarlets at Rodney Parade on 23 April looking for a first home win of the season after this first victory in Llanelli.

"It's a marker in history but I am not sure what statement it makes," added Ryan.

"Do we need to beat the Scarlets to get more equality in funding?

"We clearly have a lot of really good guys working really hard but we also look at it across the year when there are plenty of times when we are under-resourced.

"The night in Llanelli was fantastic for everyone that believes in the Dragons, but it doesn't stop us arguing the point on lots of other fronts.

"Each week is another contest, whether we had won or lost at the Scarlets," he said.

"What we are looking for is to have confidence in the things that we are trying to do, and do them more often."