Head coach Paul Turner blamed inconsistency for the demise of Newport Gwent Dragons in this year's Heineken Cup following their 24-22 defeat to Bennetton Treviso.
Dragons coach blames inconsistency for Heineken Cup defeat.
Newport Gwent Dragons head coach Paul Turner blamed his side's inconsistency for their Heineken Cup struggles after a disappointing 24-22 defeat against Bennetton Treviso.
Former South Africa international Franco Smith enjoyed the match however, with the former Dragons enjoying a winning return as Treviso coach.
Colin Charvis, Joe Bearman and Rhys Thomas scored tries for the hosts, with two conversions and a drop goal from Ceri Sweeney, but it was not enough for victory.
Nicolas De Gregori and Dion Kingi crossed the line for the Italian champions, who had Marius Goosen to thank for the remainder of their points.
Turner said his side produced a mixed performance against the Italians, but the errors outweighed their good points in the end.
"They were a physically big side and tended to play in the right areas," said Turner.
"We could not break them down and, although we got a lot of things right, we got as many things wrong and that was the story of our afternoon."
Errors
Treviso skipper Goosen's fourth penalty was the game-winner which came deep into injury-time to stun the Welsh side.
"They had a good line-out and you could probably see near the end that, as we did not kick it out far enough, they got their driving going from the line-out and got the penalty," Turner added.
"I'd like to look at the penalty count but usually if the set-pieces are good, Benetton as they were from Treviso, you tend to give away those indisciplines.
"But as many things that were good from us, there were as many bad and you can't win European games like that.
"I don't think we ever got control of the game even when we dropped the goal to possibly win it - I think there was four minutes left on the clock then - which was the same as last week.
"In those last magical four minutes, we don't seem to be composed enough to go on and win those games.
"So it is disappointing but we've played a good European side today. People may think we have come up short and we are extremely disappointed not only for ourselves but also four our supporters."
Smiling Smith
Former Springbok Smith was a full-back with Newport eight years ago and he was thrilled with his winning return to Rodney Parade.
"I must say I'm very happy," said Smith. "In the end, it could have gone either way as both sides played some good rugby.
Smith insisted that Treviso are for now just looking to grow and become a force in the Heineken Cup.
"We are growing as a team and we are a new group of players," he added.
"We have new ideas and, in two years' time, we want to compete in the Heineken Cup so we are going to use this experience to go forward.
"Our aim at the moment is to earn the respect of others in Europe and what helps us is that every game we play is a growing phase.
"We have our own objectives and winning is not always the objective of the game."
