After last season’s fifth-place finish in Super Rygbi Cymru, Pontypool head coach Tom Hancock wants his side to break into the top four this term – but knows they need to improve on the road, reports Carl Field
Pooler kick off the 2025/26 campaign on Saturday with rejuvenated Swansea the visitors to Pontypool Park.
The Gwent side will also look to continue their superb home record under Hancock.
Pooler won all eight of their regular SRC league matches under his stewardship last season after he took the reins from Leighton Jones just one match into the season, initially on an interim basis, before being appointed his permanent successor last October.
Hancock’s only home defeat in 10 games at the Park came at the hands of Ebbw Vale in the SRC Cup competition.
They are unbeaten at home in the league since going down narrowly 21-18 on opening night last season – their last game under former boss Jones.
Although by contrast, their record away from the Park was seven defeats and just two wins – at Bridgend and Swansea – from nine regular league matches.
Hancock’s men’s bid for SRC glory ended at the quarter-final stage at his former club Llandovery after they went down 39-20 at Church Bank.
In truth, the final scoreline was harsh on Pooler, who were still very much in a tense battle and were within one score with three minutes of normal time remaining, before a couple of late Drovers tries added a bit of gloss to the final scoreline.
And Hancock knows they must improve that away record to give themselves a shout of displacing one or more of last season’s top four in order to secure home play-off advantage which, given their outstanding record at the Park, could play into their hands.
“It’s been a good pre-season,” said Hancock
“We can’t wait to get the competition going again and seeing the fruits of our labour over pre-season and seeing the progress that we've hopefully made – both in terms of improving the boys we had last year, but also the bits of recruitment that we've done, to see if we can take the team and the squad up a notch this year.
“Last year it was kind of win two, lose one, win two, lose one, pretty much all through the season, so hopefully putting to bed the inconsistencies.
“We also want to develop a stronger away record and are definitely looking to go one better than last year and breaking into that top four.”
Pooler have tooled up during the close season, with new additions in key positions and Hancock hopes it will see them mount a bigger challenge this season.
“We’ve got a big squad to choose from, certainly more strength in depth and we’ve added quality in key positions where we were a little bit low on the ground in terms of numbers last year,” continued Hancock.
“The Llandovery game in the play-off at the end of last season showed the strength of our team and the ability to hang in games.
“But I think probably looking back we needed a bit more quality to go with our fighting spirit and our doggedness really to beat the top teams.”
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Time will tell will Pooler have managed to strike that balance as their focus now turns towards the visit of Swansea on Saturday.
Pooler were victorious in all three meetings between the sides, including one in the SRC Cup, last season.
Swansea finished 10th in the inaugural season of SRC, winning four and losing 14 of their 18 games. But they look set to be a different proposition this season with the Whites now under the guidance of former Wales back rower Jonathan Thomas – winner of two Six Nations Grand Slams as a player – who is back at the club where he started.
And Hancock says Pooler certainly can’t be underestimated, adding: “Certainly the latter two games we played against Swansea at Pontypool Park last season were really tough.
“We had to go and win it really late on and we definitely noticed that improvement in them as a side.
“And now also with Jon coming in but also the bits of recruitment that they’ve done, we're not looking at last season’s form from Swansea as anything sort of indicative of what's to come.
“We’ll prepare in exactly the same way as if we were playing the champions.”
The SRC is very much the good news story around Welsh rugby at the moment, against the backdrop of ongoing discussion and consultation around the future of the regional game and the four current sides.
And Hancock believes that will continue.
He said: “I just think regardless of what the future looks like, I can't see any future without these clubs and the SRC, or any equivalent of that level of competition, being integral to it.
“But from our point of view as Pontypool, we're trying to continue to be the best we can be – on and off the field – so that whatever the future holds, we're still a key part.
“We’ll do the best we can really and just tackle the season ahead and make sure that we represent the club and the community well.”
