NEWPORT Gwent Dragons director of Lyn Jones admitted to feeling a dash of frustration after failing to turn four points into five against Zebre, writes Chris Kirwan.

The Dragons made it three wins from three at Rodney Parade by downing the Italian strugglers 30-7 in the RaboDirect Pro12 on Friday.

It was a success that puts them sixth in the table while league rugby goes on the back burner for a fortnight, the Dragons taking part in the Amlin Challenge Cup while the 11 other Pro12 sides taste Heineken Cup action.

But they could – and perhaps should – have been on a total of 14 rather than 13 points.

The Dragons scored three tries but failed to barge their way over in the last quarter for what would have been a first bonus-point win in the league since the corresponding fixture on the opening day of 2012/13.

"We would have taken 30-7 at the start of the game, no problems at all," said Jones.

"But with 12 minutes to go everybody's eyes turned to the fourth try and we failed to nail it.

"Our composure wasn't quite there in the Zebre 22, we had opportunities but the skill levels under pressure were off a little bit.

"But Zebre make life difficult and some good individual performances by us earned three cheers after the game."

It was once again the Dragons' defence that pleased Jones, the Italians only managing to score once when wing Leonardo Sarto scored a consolation on the hour.

The region have shipped six tries in five games; they conceded 17 in last term's corresponding fixtures.

"Zebre have really adopted an attitude to attack this year and if they are going down then they are going to go down fighting," said Jones.

"We were devastated when they scored their try but to restrict them to one was great for the players after their hard work."

Teenage centre Jack Dixon was forced off at half-time after suffering a blow to a foot but the injury is not serious.