Boss Dean Ryan was pleased with the manner in which his Dragons dealt with adversity against Wasps.
Preparations for the Heineken Champions Cup fixture were disrupted when several players were forced to miss the home clash after two positive Covid-19 cases in the squad.
However, spirited Dragons still went toe-to-toe with the English Premiership outfit before losing out 24-8 at Rodney Parade.
“We were excited to be back in the competition and we didn’t want this other narrative to take that away from us,” said Ryan.
"We didn’t spend all this time preparing to then change eight players on a Friday night/Saturday morning. That's obviously a disruption, but it is part of the landscape.
"We were 100% clear on testing on Tuesday. But we ended up with two symptomatic players on Friday, which is probably the worst time for us so we had to test,” he added.
"It was a hard 24 hours because you've got to react to it and it's the worst time to look at close contacts because obviously we trained as a squad on Thursday and Friday.
“It’s been difficult to work through and Ben Stirling (Head of Physiotherapy & Medical Services) and James Chapron (Rugby General Manager) have been outstanding, to get us to a case when we could get this game on.
“I am proud of the way we reacted. It has taken us ten years to get here and we were determined to enjoy it.
“We finished the game with a 19-year-old (Luke Yendle) on the tighthead in the Champions Cup. Those moments are pretty special.”
We were excited to be back in the competition and we didn’t want this other narrative to take that away from us...
