NEWPORT Gwent Dragons familiar tale of western woe continued as they barely fired a shot to trouble the Scarlets in Llanelli.

The Guinness Pro12 leaders made it six wins from six, bagging a bonus point in the process against Lyn Jones' travel sick side.

The 25-15 scoreline suggests that it was tight but it wasn't a close contest; the Scarlets were better in all facets of the game and it could have been a hammering.

The Dragons have now lost all four away games with a solitary bonus point on opening night at Connacht all they have to show for their efforts.

They got nothing in Llanelli and they deserved nothing.

The Dragons have won just once away to the Scarlets and a repeat of that 2007 Stradey Park success was never on the cards.

They produced just two attacks of note, one on the stroke of half-time and the second when replacement scrum-half Sarel Pretorius sniped over with eight minutes left, and the season's theme of frustrating errors continued.

Even the usually secure Taulupe Faletau, perhaps understandably after a difficult week, joined in with the mistakes on his return to regional duty.

It doesn't get any easier next weekend with the visit of Ulster to Rodney Parade and another season of playing catch-up and trying to scramble out of the bottom four when young guns Jack Dixon, Tyler Morgan and Hallam Amos return from injury is on the cards.

There was little of note in the opening exchanges with a couple of excellent Nic Cudd jackals on his return to Llanelli standing out.

But the hosts opened the scoring in the 10th minute when Kiwi centre Hadleigh Parkes first burst through midfield, scrum-half Charlie Davies saving the day with a cover tackle, and then put flanker James Davies over after a glorious flat pass out wide to the left by Steve Shingler.

Aled Thomas converted for a 7-0 lead and things got worse in what turned out to be a nightmare first quarter.

A bomb – the Dragons' weapon of choice – by full-back Jason Tovey was shelled by former Glamorgan cricketer Aaron Shingler but the ball fell kindly for openside Davies, who started an 70-metre attack that ended with loosehead Phil John powering over.

The handling was good despite a greasy ball but the cover defence was awful.

A break by scrum-half Davies, who was lively on his first Dragons start, set the scene for Tovey to get the Dragons on the scoreboard thanks to hands in the ruck in the 25th minute and they just about clung on in there.

Wales lock Jake Ball knocked on close with the try line within stride and influential centre Regan King was unable to ground the ball when in a race with Adam Warren to a neat chip by Shingler.

The Dragons had been very sloppy with a faltering lineout, poor defence and a kicking game that was second best yet they were right back in the game on the stroke of half-time.

Flanker Davies blotted his copybook with a daft offload attempt and the grounded ball was hacked on from halfway by Tovey, who gathered and slid over.

Sadly the left-footer, who had returned to his favoured fly-half position after Dorian Jones suffered a concussion, missed his second kick of the evening, pushing it wide left after pulling an earlier attempt against the post.

The Dragons finished with their best attack of the half – scrum-half Davies, lock Rynard Landman, centre Warren and wing Ashton Hewitt all prominent – and even though it spluttered out they would have been quietly content to still be in it at 12-8 given their under-par display.

Yet it was more of the same in the opening stages of the second half with the visitors' porous defence enabling the hosts to dominate territory and possession.

The Scarlets scented blood and opted for a scrum from a penalty on the Dragons' line with 46 minutes on the clock and the attack led to another infringement that this time saw Aled Thomas made it 15-8.

The Rodney Parade side simply couldn't get a foothold in the game and their cause wasn't helped when centre Adam Hughes was sin-binned for tackling John Barclay after a quick tap without retreating 10 metres.

The Scarlets went to the corner and heaved their way over with John getting his second try of the evening to make it 20-8 on the hour, a scoreline that flattered the Dragons.

The hosts had their four-try bonus in the bag through another driving lineout on 67 minutes, James Davies joining John in enjoying a brace, but a third conversion was missed.

That meant the Dragons had a sniff of a bonus point with eight minutes left when Pretorius sniped over after a good attack featuring forwards carrying hard around the corner.

A scrum penalty gave Tovey a shot to get within range but he had neither the distance nor accuracy to trouble the touch judges.

Had they left with a losing bonus point then it would have been burgled.

Scarlets: A Thomas, T Williams, R King, H Parkes, H Robinson (J Cowley 67), S Shingler (D Jones 40), R Williams (A Davies 40), P John (D Evans 60), K Owens (captain, E Phillips 60), P Edwards, J Ball (G Earle 67), L Rawlins, A Shingler, J Davies, J Barclay (J Condy 67).

Scorers: tries – J Davies (2), P John (2); conversion – A Thomas; penalty – A Thomas

Dragons: J Tovey, A Hewitt, A Hughes (O Griffiths 68), A Warren, N Scott, D Jones (C Meyer 26), C Davies (S Pretorius 69), B Stankovich (P Price 56), E Dee (R Buckley 56), B Harris (S Knight 56), M Screech (C Hill 68), R Landman (captain), E Jackson, N Cudd, T Faletau (GR Jones 62).

Scorers: tries – J Tovey, S Pretorius; conversion – J Tovey; penalty – J Tovey

Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)

Attendance: 6,952

Argus star man: Charlie Davies