NEWPORT Gwent Dragons recorded their first Guinness Pro12 win since January by beating Zebre, but it wasn't pretty. Here are five things we learned from the 11-6 success...

1: Be direct

Hallam Amos talked about the old adage of earning the right to go wide ringing true when carrying out his media commitments on Tuesday at Ystrad Mynach.

The Dragons failed to do that and played into Zebre’s hands by being too lateral. Zebre were able to spread the field and contain the Dragons pretty easily.

They have the desire to play a wider, more expansive game but need to do more softening up with the likes of Rynard Landman, Nick Crosswell, Ed Jackson and Lewis Evans going through the middle.

2: Young guns are keen… sometimes too keen

Tyler Morgan and Hallam Amos are undoubtedly talented but they must not take things on themselves all the time.

The Wales internationals seemed to be too keen to go for the spectacular on the first starts of the season.

Amos was making his first appearance since starting all three Tests against the All Blacks but had a bit of a shocker. His willingness to try things is admirable but his penchant for going for the 50/50 rather than holding onto the ball is something that can infuriate.

The duo are class acts but must not be quite so impulsive against Munster on Saturday. As they saw first-hand Down Under, there’s nothing wrong with keeping things simple.

3: Too many attempts for Hollywood moments

On a number of occasions the Dragons worked themselves into promising positions only to force things and turn the ball over.

South Africans Rynard Landman and Sarel Pretorius were particularly guilty of this in the first half, the former going for a miracle offload and the latter opting to try and chip over the top.

They had made the burst so stay calm, recycle and punish the disorganised defence.

Granted, that’s not quite as simple as it sounds but if the Dragons don’t improve on that front then they will have another frustrating season of struggling to score tries.

4: Paying the price of past failures

Zebre and their fellow Italians Treviso head to Rodney Parade believing they can win, or at least avoid a tonking, whereas they are almost beaten before they arrive at the Liberty Stadium or Parc y Scarlets.

They have the belief that it’s going to be a contest while the Dragons seem to struggle to impose themselves when favourites.

In pre-season against Cardiff Blues and Exeter plus in the Pro12 opener at Ulster, they came flying out of the blocks. Repeating that would have cracked the Italians, instead it was a stodgy start and the hosts never got going.

Like last year, they were also hindered by Zebre being stung by a Welsh hammering, this time heading to Newport on the back of an Ospreys thumping when in 2015 it was in Cardiff.

5: Know when to settle for an uninspiring victory

Entering the final stages of the game it was clear that it was going to be an unsatisfactory night for the Dragons, so just take the four points and move on.

However, with a lead of 11-6 they twice turned down kicks at goal to secure the spoils, preferring to go to the corner.

The Dragons failed to push Zebre over and endured a few nervy moments at the death when it would have just taken a lucky bounce, a missed tackle or interception for the Italians to nick it.

Even if they’d barged over for a second try it wouldn’t have changed the post-match feeling, while it also meant that Zebre headed home with a bonus point.