Leighton Jones was not surprised by the tough start against Trebanos RFC following a six-week period without a game for Pontypool RFC.
Pooler welcomed the visitors to Pontypool Park and trailed 14-12 at half time, with Darren Hughes and Sam Scarfe both touching down.
“We didn’t start well but we’ve had such a long break that we knew things were not going to be great to start,” said Jones.
“We were never expecting champagne rugby. There were a couple of handling errors in the first half and a lot of rustiness but as the game went on the ball started sticking a bit, the decisions we were making were right.
“It’s not just the six weeks without a game, before that we had a game and we’d had a big break before that.
“It’s been hard for the boys mentally and physically just to get into the groove of regular rugby.
“Trebanos rose to the game and the challenge and I thought they played really well in the first half.
“They definitely caused us a few headaches in attack and defence, they were a tough team to break down.”
After the restart Pontypool seemed to find their rhythm and after Lloyd Lewis edged the hosts ahead they didn’t look back.
Lewis, Scarfe, Mike Herbert and Amose Nove added further tries to widen the margin of victory with Matthew Jarvis kicking five conversions in total.
“In the second half, the boys had got that 40 minutes under their belt and we did score some nice tries," Jones continued.
"The boys who came off the bench added a massive impact for us.
“But it was just nice to get 80 minutes of competitive rugby under the belt and expose a few work-ons.”
The game saw the welcome return of Lewis, Herbert and Curtis Gregory and Jones was delighted to see them back in action, as well as the impact of replacement Scarfe.
“I can imagine they are going to be really sore tomorrow," added Jones.
“Mikey was in the thick of everything and as the game was going on you could see the smile on his face knowing he was making those big hits and big carries.
“It was nice to see them back in the Pooler jersey with smiles on their faces.
“Sam’s come in this year. He’s a lovely lad, he rolls his sleeves up and works hard and I think that game today showed what an asset he is to us and how good of a rugby player he is.”
