The new SRC season starts tomorrow and in the second of our three preview pieces we spoke to Pontypool Head Coach Tom Hancock who is looking forward to an exciting season ahead.
Hancock’s squad finished 5th in the standings last season and eventually was defeated 39-20 in the playoffs by Llandovery.
Pooler’s season opens against Swansea RFC on Saturday, at Pontypool Park with a 2:30 pm kick-off.
“It does seem like it's been a long preseason”, said Hancock. “But we’re very excited to get into the nitty-gritty of round after round, particularly in block one. Starting with Swansea on the 13th, so an exciting season ahead hopefully."
“I think we were largely competitive from the first round of last season all the way through to the playoffs, really.
“We were maybe a little bit inconsistent, but managed to beat almost every team, either home or away, with Llandovery being the exception.
“Definitely a competitive season finishing in fifth and then losing to the better side on the day when we played in the playoff fixture against Llandovery.
“So the aims and objectives would be to be far more consistent, to pick up more wins away from home and to keep developing our work.”
Alongside his role as Head Coach of Pontypool, Hancock is also a senior academy coach with Dragons RFC.
This season along with the likes of Dragons centurion Joe Davies, Hancock will be accompanied at Pooler by a number of young prospects from our Academy.
“So the younger ones have been with us from the start,” said Hancock. “They've been excellent, boys like Morgan Carter, Luke Daniels, George Tuckley, Rhys Cole, have done a full preseason with us."
“Even in training, you can see in terms of collision and game awareness, understanding that there's still a little bit of growth to do with some of the younger players.
“But it's definitely been a positive that they've been with us for the whole of preseason, so they can acclimatise to the team.”
Hancock’s side will also be bolstered by the inclusion of those who represented Wales Under-20s during the summer in Evan Minto, Harri Ford, Ryan Jones and Owain James.
“The older boys returning from Wales 20's duty are transitioning back and we've filtered them in with Pontypool over the last week or so,” said Hancock.
“We should expect to see them playing from Round 2, Round 3 of the SRC, and they obviously have already had their time with us in the environment, so they can transition in nice and quickly.
“It will be a good balance of experience and youth from both Pontypool and Dragons perspective.”
The youngsters in the squad will have plenty of experience to turn to within the Pooler squad with Davies, club captain Mike Herbert and the long-serving Scott Matthews all leaders in their side's ranks.
“We're excited about the ones that we've got on board with us at Pontypool and also excited to see how they develop, hopefully, into established SRC players and then hopefully into established URC players, a little down the timeline,” said Hancock.
“That's the goal in the league really, as much as they're learning from their coaches, they're also getting a step into senior rugby with boys who have been doing it for a long time, high-quality players.
“I don't think it works if it's all youth, and I don't think it works if it's all experienced.
“I think that the league should be about finding the right blends that the young lads can gain knowledge and experience from the older boys and the older boys can feel invigorated by the youth too.”
I think that the league should be about finding the right blends that the young lads can gain knowledge and experience from the older boys and the older boys can feel invigorated by the youth too...
