DRAGONS boss Bernard Jackman didn’t use a nightmare journey to Franklin’s Gardens as an excuse for their eight-try European Challenge Cup hammering at the hands of Northampton.

The Rodney Parade region were beaten 48-14 in the East Midlands, a loss that means they won’t emerge from a tough pool that also includes French giants Clermont Auvergne.

The Dragons’ hopes of upsetting the odds in Northampton weren’t helped by a delayed arrival after their bus was late picking them up from their Rodney Parade home, which had a knock-on effect on their team meeting at a hotel in England.

They got into the ground at just past 2pm when Saints fly-half Dan Biggar was already lining up shots at goal in his pre-match routine.

The Dragons’ budget means that they opted to travel to Franklin’s Gardens and back in a day rather than staying in a hotel on Friday night and head coach Jackman said it wasn’t the plan that was the problem.

“It’s obviously unacceptable,” he said. “It’s fine to come in a day, the journey wasn’t bad, but it’s just when the bus turns up late it is unacceptable and that is something that we need to address.

“In fairness, it was the first time in my year and a half that it has been an issue. There was some kind of mechanical failure, which is sometimes out of peoples’ hands.

“When you are a sporting team on your way to the game it’s certainly not good but I wouldn’t use it as an excuse, we were still here on time.”

The Dragons shipped eight tries the week after they were given a 59-10 home hammering by Leinster in the Guinness PRO14.

“It may seem strange but it was actually an improvement on last week, which is hard to admit,” said Jackman, whose team scored through centre Adam Warren and Nic Cudd.

“We had more of the game and they were obviously the better side but the scoreline was pretty harsh.

“The boys put in a massive shift, it’s just against teams like Northampton it’s seven points when you make a mistake.

“We don’t have the power that Northampton had with the likes of Luther Burrell, Taqele Naiyaravoro, Api Ratuniyarawa – they were just getting over the gain line and more.

“The big thing is that the boys stick together, we work really hard and make fewer individual errors.”

Captain Richard Hibbard and flanker Harrison Keddie went off after suffering head injuries and back row forward Ollie Griffiths suffered a knee injury that is likely to rule him out of next weekend’s trip to Clermont Auvergne.