NEWPORT Gwent Dragons are set to be without talisman number eight Taulupe Faletau for their crunch Boxing Day derby with Cardiff Blues.

The 24-year-old Wales and Lions international is highly unlikely to feature in the capital and will be a doubt for the return at Rodney Parade on New Year's Day after being forced off with an injury to his left ankle in the opening exchanges of the 25-11 win against Zebre in the Guinness Pro12.

Lewis Evans replaced Faletau against the Italians and is likely to deputise against the Blues while the Dragons will also be sweating on the availability of Ross Wardle after he suffered a blow to his right shoulder, although his fellow centre Tyler Morgan did make his return from the bench after a month on the sidelines with a knee problem.

The region head to the Arms Park on the back of three wins thanks to their solid if unspectacular success against Zebre, just their second league victory of the campaign.

Wardle, wing Hallam Amos and lock Rynard Landman scored tries but the Dragons failed to earn a bonus point after failing to capitalise on a number of breaks into the Italians' 22.

"We're very pleased to win and I thought that we looked in control for large periods of the game," said director of rugby Lyn Jones, whose side enjoyed December wins against Bucharest in the Challenge Cup double-header.

"We scored three good tries and we created opportunities; it's disappointing that we didn't finish them off but as long as we are creating then we are on the right track.

"I thought that we didn't dominate the kicking game the way that we wanted to in the second half. We came up with a clear plan to put the ball up in the air to create some problems for Zebre but we didn't do that and played a little bit too much in our own half.

"Some of our rugby was good and some wasn't so clever but we are really pleased to win and are not too disappointed at missing out on the bonus point considering where we have been this season.

"It's all about building confidence for the Blues game, which is going to be a tight one."

Loosehead Boris Stankovich will be out for another three to six weeks with the knee injury he suffered against the Ospreys in November.

Pat Leach is making slow progress from his pre-season knee injury while wing Aled Brew is still being troubled by back and groin problems.