HEAD coach Kingsley Jones says inexperience can no longer be used as an excuse after a nightmare Guinness Pro12 campaign for Newport Gwent Dragons, writes Chris Kirwan.

The Dragons ended a shocking league season with a humiliating 47-22 defeat at Zebre, who climbed off the bottom of the table to pip Italian rivals Treviso to Champions Cup rugby.

The Rodney Parade region won just four of 22 Pro12 games this season – their lowest tally since their 2003 inception – while they had the worst try count (33) and failed to win an away game.

A European Challenge Cup semi-final papered over some cracks but Jones, who took over the reins when director of rugby Lyn Jones left the club last month, knows that despite 10 narrow defeats the league efforts have been unacceptable.

There is bright talent on the Dragons' books with the likes of Hallam Amos, Tyler Morgan, Jack Dixon, Elliot Dee, Ashton Hewitt and Ollie Griffiths and the head coach wants them to lead the way in 2016/17.

"There are no more excuses about age – we have got enough experience in the room," said Jones.

"It's been a tough season with a few highs and some close scores but ultimately it's not good enough.

"We do have a lot of young players, that's a fact, but they've also played a lot of rugby now. Making a mistake is okay but making the same mistake week after week is not.

"It's been a long, hard season for players and coaches; we have been through a lot. We were looking forward to the Zebre game and we had pride to play for, but the performance wasn't good enough."

The loss would have been even more embarrassing were it not for late scores by lock Rynard Landman and Amos.

Jones made seven changes to his XV for Parma because of a bruising April schedule but few, if any, caught the eye.

"When you give players an opportunity they have to grasp it. It's a tough ask after not playing for a number of weeks but that's high level sport; when you get a chance you have to take it," said Jones.

"We made lots of errors in the first 20 minutes that allowed Zebre into the game (to lead 17-3). Everything we discussed as a group, we didn't achieve."

"Zebre are always in games in the first half when they are at home and they had a lot to play for (with Champions Cup qualification) so we knew it was going to be a tough game but we didn't match up and it was massively disappointing."