THE Dragons finally returned to action at Scotstoun Stadium on Saturday night after a five-week lay-off.

Despite a dream start thanks to Rhodri Williams’ first-minute try, Glasgow hit back with five of their own to seal a 34-19 win.

Here are some of the talking points from the Dragons’ Guinness PRO14 defeat in Scotland.

Only one place to start – that penalty decision

In his post-match interview, Dragons boss Dean Ryan was keen for the focus to be on his young side’s display against a “very confident and competent” home side.

However, there’s no doubt that what happened 25 minutes into the first half had a massive bearing on the game.

Referee Sean Gallagher sin-binned Dragons prop Lloyd Fairbrother and opposing tighthead Oli Kebble (more of that in a moment).

He could then be heard saying he was awarding the visitors a penalty because Kebble’s indiscretion was the worse of the two offences.

Seconds later, Gallagher had given Glasgow the penalty, they kicked to touch and Grant Stewart crashed over from the resulting lineout.

Exactly how the official ended up giving Glasgow the penalty and not the Dragons remains a mystery, and it certainly didn’t go unnoticed by Ryan.

Did Gallagher change his mind? Did he get an instruction from the TMO? Where were his other officials in all of this? What did he say, if anything, to the Dragons about it? Surely they queried the call.

Red card for Kebble?

Also in his post-match interview, Ryan said he felt Kebble deserved a red card for striking Fairbrother in retaliation after the Dragons man had used a knee to trap him at a ruck.

First things first, Fairbrother simply didn’t need to do what he did, it was nowhere near the ball and uncalled for.

You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t react to something like that, so you can understand why Kebble retaliated.

But while it may not have been a right hook Tyson Fury would have been proud of, Kebble didn’t exactly hold back as he struck Fairbrother to the face.

The BT Sport commentary team (Tim Visser referred to the Dragons as Newport throughout) felt Fairbrother made the most of it, and maybe there was a bit of a delay between the contact and him going down holding his face.

Ryan described the referee’s decision to show Kebble a yellow as “not logical” and “not the law”, and it’s hard to not agree with him.

Positives to take after long lay-off

A decent performance from a young Dragons side gave Ryan plenty of reason for hope.

It was great to see flanker Ollie Griffiths back in league action, while Rhodri Williams was as dynamic as ever with his two tries, the second a superb effort.

Glasgow’s set-piece had a big impact on the game and their rolling maul was almost impossible to stop.

But some good signs ahead of the visit of the Cheetahs to Rodney Parade.