DRAGONS boss Bernard Jackman admits it’s been a painful first season at the helm but insists they have unearthed some “rough diamonds” for the future.

The Rodney Parade region are in serious danger of setting a record-breaking low for league wins after triumphing just two times in the Guinness PRO14.

Last Friday’s home loss to the Cheetahs in their final Newport encounter of the campaign leaves them with three fixtures to at least match the pitiful four successes they managed in both 2015/16 and 2016/17.

They do not play this weekend then play back-to-back games in Italy against Benetton and Zebre before finishing against the Scarlets at Judgement Day in Principality Stadium.

“It has been painful results-wise but I do think that we have unearthed some rough diamonds that can potentially become really good regional players and help the Dragons win,” said head coach Jackman, who replaced Kingsley Jones last summer.

“We’ve given a lot of youngsters a lot of opportunities and that is investing in the future; if we had just played the same team every week and then decided to make a big turnover then we would be relying completely on the recruits we were bringing in.

“We would like to feel that we are recruiting ambitiously but that we are also developing our own young talent.”

The Dragons cannot finish any higher than sixth in Conference B and have just a six-point advantage over the PRO14’s worst side, the Southern Kings.

Next up is a clash at Benetton with the region staying in Italy for a week before locking horns with Zebre in L’Aquila the following Saturday.

The Dragons are hunting a first away win in the PRO14 since triumphing in Trevison in March, 2015.

“We’ve got three game left and it’s important that we go to Italy and try and get our first away win of the season and get ourselves ready for Judgement Day, because that’s a day when we want to put our best foot forward,” said Jackman.

“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish and we want to finish strongly.”

The Dragons are done on home soil for the season and finish with a record in all competitions of played 15, won six, drawn two and lost seven.

“We are very disappointed that we haven’t given the supporters the wins that they deserve because they are very loyal,” said Jackman.

“We missed an opportunity to give someone like Sarel a send-off and to give the fans a win in our last home game against the Cheetahs but I would like to hope that they can see there wasn’t any lack of effort.

“It was just some composure at the key moments and that will come with more game time, more understanding of the systems we are trying to put in place and bringing in more experience over the summer.”