INJURIES have been to blame for Newport Gwent Dragons inconsistent start to the season but there is light at the end of the tunnel, says director of rugby Lyn Jones.

All of the Dragons’ specialist centres have endured spells on the sidelines this season, forcing them to use wings Matthew Pewtner and Tom Prydie and fly-half Dorian Jones in midfield and Ashley Smith is the latest to be ruled out with a broken jaw.

That injury, picked up in last week’s 69-17 European Rugby Challenge Cup win against Bucharest at Rodney Parade could keep the influential 27-year-old out for up to three months.

But there is good news on two long-term absentees ahead of Sunday’s Guinness Pro12 clash with Zebre at Rodney Parade.

“Ashley has had a nasty injury, which is likely to be anything between eight and 12 weeks,” said Jones.

“But we welcome back Jack Dixon and Tyler Morgan this weekend, two players who have been missing since we played Ospreys at home (on September 12).

“That seems like a very long time ago but they are two promising players, neither of which have hit 20 years of age yet, and we hold out real hope for them becoming strong regional players and future internationals.

“Selection at last is becoming difficult and that’s what we want,” he added.

“The biggest factor of all in the inconsistency of performances is the inconsistency of selection week to week.

“We’re trying to build and improve but it gets knocked down week to week when you have to make four or five changes.

“The last three weeks it looks as if we’ve turned a corner and the injuries have bottomed out but every match that we play we’ve got our fingers crossed hoping nobody else gets injured.

“It’s no accident that when players don’t get injured and you have a squad to select from you have consistency of selection, which in turn means improved performances and better scorelines.”