The capital city region were completely outplayed by their East Wales rivals in the first forty, but a much improved second half saw them record a convincing 43-29 victory, topped off with five second half tries.
“There was a little bit of a stern talking to at half-time from leaders and from coaches and we went out and played the best second half of rugby I’ve seen us play for a long time,” said Wilson, who will leave the region at the end of the season.
“I’ve got to credit the Dragons; first half we weren’t physically at the races – which is a bad thing to say for a derby – they were, forced a couple of turnovers and lit up for a couple of good tries.
“We addressed a number of things at half time but we said that there’s no point in making changes to our game plan if we haven’t got the physical edge that is needed for a derby.
“And we saw that in spades in the second half. I thought our attacking game was outstanding, we scored some great tries and played some really good rugby.”
Despite being on the receiving end of a heavy defeat the Dragons comprehensively outplayed their arch rivals in the first half leaving head coach Bernard Jackman with plenty to build on over the coming weeks and months.
“At half-time we were hoping for a little bit more,” said Jackman. “Their bench made a big impact but I take responsibility for that loss. I think that we weren’t as organised as we needed to be in terms of our exits.
“We obviously started very well and the first half was good. The wind was a lot stronger than it looked and we had to play into the wind in the second half. We just couldn’t get out of our own half and we were trapped in our own 22.”
