HEAD coach Kingsley Jones says Newport Gwent Dragons have to bolster their squad after a nightmare second half of the campaign saw them finish last-but-one in the Guinness PRO12.

The Dragons finished their season with a 26-24 defeat to Cardiff Blues in Caerphilly, a loss that extended their losing streak in all competitions to 12 and saw them overtaken by Treviso with Zebre the sole team beneath them.

They haven't won since beating Enisei-STM in the European Challenge Cup on January 16 while they have won just four games in the PRO12 and endured a whitewash away from Rodney Parade.

The Dragons now wait until Tuesday evening to see if Newport RFC shareholders give the green light to the Welsh Rugby Union's proposed deal that would see them taking over the region and the Black and Ambers' historic ground.

If the go-ahead is given then Jones believes a summer of work is needed to add to their ranks with fly-half/centre Gavin Henson and full-back/wing Zane Kirchner the only players to have signed so far.

"The region produces players but we need to give those guys some support, some depth and some experience around them," said the head coach.

"That's what we are intending to do next season. We produce players but can we keep players and can we get some good memories? They need more good experiences.

"They will have a year more experience and next season a big part of our team will be 22/23, that's not young anymore and it's not only their age, they've had a lot of rugby.

"We need to make sure they have a couple of critical players around them and we are talking to one and having Gavin and Zane could make a big difference to us."

The Dragons lost to the Blues despite a terrific start in which full-back Carl Meyer scored a second minute try.

The men from the capital eased away in the second half through the boot of Wales fly-half Gareth Anscombe before a try in the final seconds by centre Sam Beard earned the hosts a consolation bonus point.

"It's the usual speech, there is a lot of good in us and a lot of ambition but we just make fundamental mistakes and unforced errors. Our challenge is the top two inches," said Jones.

"If we'd had the upper hand at the scrum we would have won, that was the decider because it gave momentum to the Blues and penalties with the chance to kick at goal or get territory.

"It was the story of the season and 20 minutes of the second half was an awful performance from both teams.

"We finished with a flurry and had a crack. That's a positive, and you look for positives in my job, but we've got to learn and minimise errors."