A SERIOUS shoulder injury to former Springboks full-back Zane Kirchner took some of the shine of the Dragons’ morale-boosting 21-8 win against Connacht last night.

The 33-year-old suffered a dislocated right shoulder when making a thumping tackle after 15 minutes of the first half of the Guinness PRO14 clash at Rodney Parade.

The 31-times capped South African hit the floor in frustration after making the hit and cut a disconsolate figure as he was led from the field.

Kirchner started all three games since his summer move from Leinster but, while the full extent of the damage is yet to be determined, he looks set for a spell on the sidelines.

That will leave head coach Bernard Jackman with Hallam Amos, Carl Meyer and Will Talbot-Davies as his options at 15.

The full-back was joined in the treatment room by his replacement, wing Jared Rosser, as well as centre Tyler Morgan to force the Dragons to field scrum-half Sarel Pretorius on the flank and fly-half Dorian Jones in midfield.

"It's not good, Zane has gone to hospital with a dislocated shoulder and Tyler got a bang in the ribs, but hopefully that's not as serious,” said Jackman.

"Jared got a bang on the hip but the great thing is the bench came on and did their job. Connacht asked big questions of our defence and we stood firm.”

The defensive effort ensured that the Dragons’ superb first half attacking display earned a first victory since January.

They lost the Leinster and Edinburgh at the start of the season to extend their losing streak to 14 in all competitions and Jackman is pleased that his charges finally have something to show for their toil at their Ystrad Mynach training base.

“The frustrating thing over the previous two weeks was that we didn't show in our performances the amount of work we've put in,” he said.

“We saw some of our attacking shape and defensive shape being put in place on the pitch against quality opposition, so that's very pleasing.

“The problem was that we had such a makeshift back line for the second half that we had to try and close the game down a little bit, but that was good experience for us in the future.

“In the first half we looked really dangerous, the pack gave us momentum and we asked questions of Connacht, and that's what you need to do at home.

“You need to go after the game and can't defend for 80 minutes, and thankfully we got a lead and closed it out.”

Amos’ score in the second minute is sure to be on the Dragons’ try of the season shortlist after a Jack Dixon break and then offloads by Kirchner, Elliot Dee and a final pass from Harri Keddie.

“We want to be an attacking team and I really liked the way the players trusted their skill set and we offloaded three times in the build up to the opening try,” said Jackman.

“We played with real width and have got lots of skill in this team, we just need to bring the physicality, which we did in this game.”

The Dragons are likely to ring the changes for Friday’s clash with unbeaten Ulster in Belfast.