Scarlets captain Ken Owens has claimed there have been of voices of dissent towards him and his team from within the region.

The Wales hooker gave a combative interview to broadcasters Premier Sports after his side had beaten the Dragons 22-13 at Parc Y Scarlets to end a run of five successive defeats.

Owens and his team were roundly booed after their home defeat to Cardiff Blues, but he suggested the friction of recent weeks has also been internal.

“People outside of our group can do what they want; it’s not just the supporters booing us, there has been a lot of criticism from within the club as well, that is the way it is,” said Owens, who was pressed into emergency duty as a No.8 against the Dragons and underlined his versatility.

“We have stayed tight over the last month or so, we know what we can do. We have faced a lot of adversity, we are a tough group.

“You find a lot about your squad and players when your backs are against the wall and at times it is all about winning. We are just happy to get the result.”

“A lot of people have questioned us, questioned me personally. They can do what they want, but the boys have stuck together over the last couple of weeks and really dug it out and we got the result.

“One thing I have learned over the last month or so, is that when you are winning everyone is in it together. When you are losing, everybody starts pointing fingers.

“As a squad we have really struck together. It wasn’t pretty out there, but we knew what we had to do, we had to get the win and we did that.”

Tries from Ioan Nicholas and Sam Hidalgo-Clyne plus 12 points from the boot of Dan Jones gave the hosts their first win in six games.

The Dragons scored a try of their own courtesy of James Benjamin with Josh Lewis and Jason Tovey kicking eight points between them.

Scarlets coach Wayne Pivac paid tribute to the influence and impact of Owen in his unfamiliar spot in the back row.

He is immense,” said Pivac. “He leads by example, he puts his body on the line every week.

“To be honest, we didn’t have anyone else to play No.8. It was either him or Hadleigh Parkes and I’m not joking.

“We have seven loose forwards out and you already have Dan Davis playing who is a young man, Ed Kennedy in his first season and Tom Phillips, who has been out with a head injury and had just the one training run.

“The way we play and our attacking structure from phase play means Ken is out in those wide channels a lot anyway.

“It didn’t really matter if he had number two or number eight on his back, it just meant a change in position at the set piece.

“And I thought he handled it pretty well, it shows the true leader he is.

“To get a British Lion to play from the front row to the loose forwards at this level of the game, he is putting the jersey first, the club first.”

The Dragons came into the game off the back of a first Welsh derby win for four years afer beating the Ospreys at Rodney Parade six days earlier to give hopes of a first win in Llanelli since September 2007.

They came closer than most of their recent battles against the Scarlets and coach Ceri Jones said: “I thought it was a valiant effort from the boys.

“They really stuck in there and worked really hard for each other, so I’m proud of that effort tonight.

“Losing Ryan Bevington in the week and Aaron Jarvis early on, both are quality players so with Lloyd (Fairbrother), Brok (Harris) and Leon Brown out as well it’s difficult. The Scarlets exploited us at the scrum today so credit to them.

“In the first half especially our set piece didn’t function as I wanted it too and that puts you under huge pressure.

“When we did keep the ball we looked dangerous and our defensive effort was huge.”