Leighton Jones was delighted to pick up maximum points in the capital after coming up against a spirited and energetic Cardiff Met RFC at a sunshine-filled Cyncoed Campus.
Pooler ran in five tries to claim a bonus-point victory but were pegged back on numerous occasions with the hosts touching down three times themselves to remain close by until the final whistle.
It didn’t seem it would pan out that way at the break as Pontypool RFC led 21-0 thanks to tries from Garin Price, Darren Hughes and Ashley Sweet, all converted by Matthew Jarvis.
But an early score after the restart by Evan McVeigh sparked the Archers into life.
Mike Herbert and Roma Zheng traded tries before a Jarvis penalty kept the hosts at arm’s length, however, a Joe Locke try set up a thrilling final 20 minutes.
Jarvis struck another penalty and Ethan Davies made it safe at the death when he intercepted a pass and sprinted almost the entire length of the field to go over.
“We stuck to our game plan and dominated the first half,” said head coach Jones.
“We spoke at half time and said if we can let’s go out and score first.
“The kick off probably should have gone into touch, we’ve kept it alive and it backfired.
“They’ve got in behind us and scored so it wasn’t the start we wanted and it definitely put a lot of energy into them and made their followers more vocal.
“They had their tails up and we had to take a couple of penalties to take the sting out of the game.
“They’ll always come back and they play a nice brand of rugby so for the neutral it was an entertaining game.
“It’s never easy down here, they are coached very well and they’ve got some really good athletes in their team so to come down here and pick up the five points is always pleasing.”
The victory moved Pooler up to third, three points behind Neath RFC and five behind Bargoed RFC, who have both played a game more.
