NEWPORT Gwent Dragons have suffered yet another injury blow with the loss of key centre Ashley Smith for six to eight weeks.

The former Wales Under-21 captain has been carrying a toe injury for much of the season and has been in some pain, so he had an operation last week.

At least the first part of his absence comes during a quiet period for the Dragons, their next Magners League game not until December 6, at home to Leinster.

The inside-centre specialist is almost certainly out of next month’s Heineken Cup double- header against French aces Biarritz, but it is hoped he will be back for the holiday derbies against Cardiff Blues and the Scarlets.

He started the season confidently, scoring two tries in the first three league games, and he led the team twice in the absence of Tom Willis, against Glasgow and Munster.

Fellow centre Matthew Watkins suffered a knee injury in Friday night’s LC Cup-tie against Sale, his second start for the Dragons after a hip operation, and is set to miss Saturday’s cup game against Leicester at their Welford Road fortress, where they are fresh from their tremendous victory over South Africa, also last Friday.

The Dragons hope to have injury victims Joe Bearman and Ali McKenzie back in time for Christmas, but the woes at prop are set to continue into the new year with Ben Castle, yet to start a competitive game for them, Nigel Hall and Phil Price all missing until January at least.

Teenager Dan Watchurst became the ninth player in ten games this season to play at prop, quite a record.

But the Dragons are buoyant after their terrific 20-9 LV Cup win against Sale, who fielded eight Guinness Premiership regulars. They included ex-England pair Charlie Hodgson and Ben Cohen and they were also able to bring on Dwayne Peel and Matthew Tait, two more internationals, whereas the Dragons ended up with four under-21 players on the pitch after starting with another in Watchurst.

The highly rated Toby Faletau, James Thomas, Mathew Pewtner and Adam Greendale all played in the final quarter, Greendale making the break which led to Danny Lee’s decisive try and kicking a penalty and conversion.

“We made a lot of errors, but if these lads keep working hard they have all got a bright future,” said coach Paul Turner.

“Without trying to devalue the competition we see it as a real chance to bring on youth and academy players. It’s not ideal and even if we’d got beaten against a near-full-strength Sale team it’s the way to go.

“We’ve got to see these guys play, a number of them play in the Premiership which we hope will improve, and the British and Irish Cup will give a lot of them the chance to play at a higher standard. We will be doing our utmost to keep all our academy players.

“It was a very good win against Sale. The momentum is building and the feelgood factor is here, we’ll go to Welford Road with a bit of confidence.”

Sale director of rugby Kingsley Jones, the ex-Ebbw Vale captain, admitted: “The Dragons wanted it more and they worked hard as a team. This was a lesson for everybody.”

The Dragons boast an unbeaten home record this season and they have now won their last ten games at Rodney Parade stretching back to January, when they were narrowly beaten by Bath.