NEWPORT Gwent Dragons will spend a three-week break desperately hunting for a cutting edge after limping to a 13-0 victory against Zebre in a Rodney Parade shocker.

The Dragons recorded a first Guinness Pro12 success of the season but there were no smiling faces on the pitch or in the stands at the final whistle. In fact, most punters had sat in silence for much of the game with the final points scored in the 30th minute.

It was turgid fare with the solitary try of the game coming from a driving lineout and a dramatic improvement is needed in upcoming away games at Leinster and Glasgow.

The Dragons battled hard for a losing bonus point in Galway on opening night but effectively wasted it by failing to put Zebre to the sword.

They may have won pretty comfortably but they must now stew on an extremely frustrating display until they travel to Dublin on Saturday, October 3.

Against Connacht on opening weekend they mixed glimpses of promise with an error count that left the management team banging their heads on their desk.

It was the same story against Zebre.

Backs coach Shaun Connor had demanded accuracy, patience and a clinical edge in the build-up yet they were sorely missing as chances galore went to waste.

Zebre’s heads would have dropped had the scoreboard been kept ticking along yet a series of promising attacks spluttered to disappointing ends.

Few, if any, players will have headed back to the home changing room content with their evening’s work.

Credit to Zebre, their spoiling tactics earned respectability, but the Dragons have to be setting their standards much, much, much higher than the dross they served up.

Dragons recorded just two Pro12 bonus point wins at Rodney Parade last season – against Treviso and Leinster – so perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised that it was only a four-point haul.

But a side with Champions Cup qualification ambitions should have been toasting a fiver against a Zebre side that were without their nine-strong World Cup contingent and who had been hammered 61-13 at Cardiff Blues last Sunday.

The Italians had stayed the week in Newport, training at Llanwern High School in a bid to aid their quest for success in a city where they had never registered a league point.

Yet from the early stages it was clear that it was going to be a home win, even if it was extremely scrappy fare.

Zebre had led 6-5 after half an hour in Cardiff so the Dragons had talked about the need to build a lead and put the squeeze on their visitors.

However, a mistakes galore (for the second week running) meant there was little to cheer in the opening quarter.

The half-backs Sarel Pretorius and Jason Tovey were bright but all the Dragons had to show from territorial dominance was a solitary penalty by the latter.

Things started to go to plan as the game entered its second quarter with Lyn Jones’ side applying pressure and reaping the rewards.

A spell inside the 22 was rewarded through the left boot of Tovey after 26 minutes and they swiftly returned with Zebre skipper George Biagi yellow-carded for taking out a lineout jumper for the second time.

The subsequent driving lineout saw number eight Ed Jackson barge over from close range with Tovey adding the extras.

Just as we hoped the Dragons would put their foot down they returned to their error-strewn ways and they were lucky to be 13-0 up at the break – hapless Zebre fly-half Ulrich Beyers missed a routine penalty from in front of the sticks.

The Dragons started the second half on the front foot but, you guessed it, failed to make their pressure count.

And instead of the home side putting the squeeze on it was the visitors that grew into the game, albeit in a similarly toothless fashion.

It took until the 79th minute for the Dragons to get back into enemy territory... and they gave away a penalty from their attempted driving lineout.

World Cup fever won’t last long if next Friday’s action between England and Fiji serves up a similar ‘treat’.

Dragons: T Prydie, A Hewitt, T Morgan, A Warren, N Scott (C Meyer 70), J Tovey (D Jones 58), S Pretorius (C Davies 56), B Stankovich (P Price 52), R Thomas (captain, H Gustafson 75), B Harris (S Knight 52), C Hill, R Landman, L Evans (J Thomas 36), N Cudd (J Benjamin 67), E Jackson.

Scorers: try – E Jackson; conversion – J Tovey; penalties – J Tovey (2)

Zebre: D Berryman, G Di Giulio, T Castello (M Azzolini 76), M Pratichetti, M Visentin, U Beyers, L Burgess (F Semenzato 70), B Postiglioni (A De Marchi 63), T D’Apice (O Fabiani 72), P Ceccarelli (E Coria Marchetti 58), M Bortolami (M Sutto 46), G Biagi (captain), P Derbyshire (E Caffini 50), M Mbanda, A Van Schalkwyk.

Referee: Lloyd Linton (Scotland)

Attendance: 4,159

Argus star man: N/A