Jones praises bravery and commitment

Leighton Jones talked up the togetherness and fight in the squad as Pontypool’s never-say-die attitude saw them snatch a victory from Merthyr at The Wern.

Pooler showed immense bravery to refuse numerous shots at goal in the dying minutes, where a successful kick would have levelled the score, and instead back themselves in the scrum to produce a game-winning try.

And that moment game when play was switched from right to left in a matter of seconds with Amosa Nove diving over in the corner to spark jubilant celebrations on the pitch and from the travelling support.

“We shot ourselves in the foot a bit before that when we got into a good lead,” explained head coach Leighton Jones

“We made some stupid errors and Merthyr are a team that will punish you.

“One thing the boys will always do is dig in for each other and go for the 80 minutes.

“In those last minutes on the Merthyr line there was no thought process of going for the draw.

“They are brave boys and that just showed how much effort and commitment they were putting in.

“They were on top in the scrum towards the end and we backed ourselves in the scrum to go for the pushover or gain the advantage of a penalty and pull the trigger and play.

“It worked and the boys deserved the result.”

Joel Mahoney and Ewan Rosser had both touched down before Nove’s heroics while Matthew Jarvis booted seven points on his return to his old stomping ground.

The victory keeps Pontypool third in the Indigo Premiership and continues their impressive form, having won their last four league games.

Jones has always taken a game-by-game approach and promotion to the Premiership has not changed things, although he did appreciate the magnitude of the victory over the Ironmen.

“There is experience in our team and our squad,” he added.

“There are boys who have played a lot of Premiership rugby and at the end of the game they were smiling and some of the comments they were coming out with were really pleasing.

“There are boys who haven’t played in the Premiership and there were nerves at first but week by week you can see them growing, enjoying it and believing they have a place in the Premiership.

“With Pontypridd next week, they will look at us and do their homework and try to expose certain parts of our game.

“I don’t know what other clubs do but for us it is one game at a time.

“I know other teams might focus on a league position or they want to be in a certain place but that is something we’ve never done.

“We’ve always taken it game by game and give every team the respect they deserve.

“Coming to The Wern and getting a win is a big statement, it’s a big result but rugby is all about the day and next week is a different day, different venue, different team.”