CAPTAIN Steff Hughes admits the Dragons need to do more soul-searching after their United Rugby Championship hammering at Glasgow.

The title-chasing Warriors enjoyed a 40-7 triumph at Scotstoun Stadium on Saturday evening but should have won even more convincingly after missing a raft of chances to add to their six tries.

The Dragons missed 39 tackles and had a success rate of just 79 per cent while the Scots made 25 clean breaks and beat 39 defenders.

Dai Flanagan’s men have won just three of 14 fixtures this season and have been knocked out of the Challenge Cup, meaning the battle to avoid being bottom of the URC is all they have to play for.

The Sharks currently prop up the table but are level on points with the Dragons, with the Scarlets and Zebre the other strugglers.

“We need to look individually at our own games and be honest,” admitted Hughes, with Ulster away next up.

“Ask ourselves are we doing enough in the week? Are we doing enough day to day, to be better and to be as good as we can be?

“As a team we need to be smarter. We had a lot of boys out of position, so we need to be able to adapt our game to suit that.”

The Dragons have now conceded 48 tries in 10 league fixtures and the Warriors struck twice inside the first four minutes, then had their bonus at the start of the second half.

“It’s not good enough,” admitted Hughes. “We lost far too many collisions defensively and it put us on the back foot.

“We ended up defending essentially for 70 minutes, scrambling in defence with the number of one-on-one tackles we missed. It’s difficult to get a game going.

“When we attacked in their 22, we worked hard and got a couple of results. However, we could have been more accurate.

South Wales Argus: LIVELY: Youngster Che Hope made an encouraging cameo for the Dragons at GlasgowLIVELY: Youngster Che Hope made an encouraging cameo for the Dragons at Glasgow (Image: Huw Evans Agency)

“It’s good to see young players come on, the likes of Che (Hope), Sam (Scarfe), Joe (Westwood) and Brodie (Coghlan) making an impact.

“They bought energy, that is all you can ask but individually and as a team we need to improve. The basics of the game are the key aspects.”

The Dragons have this weekend off before heading to Belfast to face an Ulster side smarting from a last-gasp defeat at the Ospreys on Saturday, March 2 (kick-off 7.35pm).

There is now an artificial pitch at Ravenhill and Flanagan’s men have fared badly on those surfaces after Glasgow ran wild like Munster and Cardiff before them.

“Defensively we need to make sure we win collisions, [decide] whether we drop our tackle height and make sure we complete tackles, work on double tackles so we can slow their ball down and bring line speed defensively,” said Hughes.

“Against Glasgow we ended up being so passive for so long in the game because our first up collisions weren’t good enough.

“We have got to be accurate when we have opportunities, both off launch and in their 22.”

Ulster are having a very poor season by their standards.

They failed to qualify for the Champions Cup knockout stages and will travel to Montpellier in the Challenge Cup while they are eighth in the URC, albeit a win away from fourth.