Jones: We can take confidence from performance

Leighton Jones was pleased with the way his players battled as Pontypool began preparation for life in the Indigo Premiership with a trip to Sardis Road.

Pontypridd, regulars in the Premiership, seemed appropriate opposition and Jones was happy with how his squad handled the challenge of taking on a team of that calibre.

Despite falling to a narrow defeat, there were still plenty of positives to take on their first day back in action.

“We’ve been in the Championship for a long time,” explained Jones.

“The boys can take a lot of positive out of that and grow in confidence from their ability and performance.

“We had several boys who have come up and trialled with us this year and they’ve had plenty of game time and showed us what they can do, some of the areas they are good at and some of the areas that we can work with them.

“Overall, [it was] very positive.”

The 80-minute game was contested over three stages with a 30-minute ending preceded by two 25-minute periods.

This allowed both sides to share the minutes around the squad and head coach Jones used the opportunity to get 28 players on the pitch.

“That’s why we went with the format we did,” he added.

“I don’t think anyone there has played under 40 minutes so overall it’s a pleasing day.

“There are six boys who have come from the lower divisions locally and they’ve done themselves proud and definitely shown up well to add to the squad.

“We’ve still got eight or nine boys that weren’t with us so we’ll only get better.

“It’s nice to be back and come to a ground of this standard and play quality opposition.

“We’ve highlighted some of the stuff that we’ve got to work on and some of the things we have worked on that went well.

“All in all it was a loss but pleasing to see what we need to work on and where we done well.”