And unlike their heavyweight rivals, who they meet in the second WRU National Cup semi-final at Eugene Cross Park (5.30pm kick-0ff, Saturday, 6 April), they have already pocketed the WRU National Championship after a 41-40 win over Cardiff Met last weekend.
That made it three titles in a row and their other target is to climb back into the top-flight when they meet the fifth from bottom side in the Premiership in the end-of-season play-off match. Unfortunately, they will have to finish the season without the services of former Ospreys and Wales outside half Matthew Jones, who is undergoing knee surgery after picking up an injury in the quarter-final win over Bridgend.
Unbeaten throughout their league campaign last season, Pontypool have won 19 games in the league and cup this season after reaching the semi-finals for the first time since 1991. Now they have their sights set on a first final in 28 years.
“It was a tough game, Cardiff Met are a decent team and played some really good rugby to put us under pressure,” said head coach Leighton Jones.
“Winning is a habit and the boys don’t know how to lose at the moment. We had to dig deep to win at Cardiff Met last weekend to clinch the Championship and that was just what we needed.
“We know Merthyr will pose a different sort of challenge, they are the best team in Wales, but we can’t wait to test ourselves against them. They’re strong all over the park with a dangerous and powerful set of forwards and plenty of gas out wide.
“They pride themselves on their defence and they will be a very tough nut to crack. But anything can happen in Cup rugby and, if we are on the money, then we always back ourselves.”
You have to go back even further for the one and only time they lifted the cup. That was in the days of the world renowned ‘Pontypool Front Row’ when Jeff Squire was captain. They beat Swansea in the final in 1983, but haven’t done so since.
Pontypool have certainly done it the hard way in making it to the last four as they have had to beat two Premiership sides to get there. The Championship outfit were given a walkover by Neath in round one before heading to Pandy Park to meet Cross Keys for their next assignment. A classic Gwent derby clash ended 10-9 in their favour. It was payback time for Pooler having been beaten by Keys in the quarter-finals at the same venue two seasons ago.
On that occasion they went down 19-3, but this time they made no mistake. Tries from Martin Luckwell and Lloyd Lewis, one of which was converted by Matthew Lewis, steered Pooler to their latest cup win over Premiership opposition.
They went on to do it again in the last eight when they hosted Bridgend. This time it was even tighter with the game going into extra time. A crowd of nearly 2,000 turned up to roar home their home heroes at Pontypool Park and they were rewarded with tries from Rob Nash and Kieran Meek.
The latter added a conversion and a penalty while Matthew Jones also kicked six points to complete a 21-11 victory.
Route to the Semi-Finals
Round 1: v Neath (walkover)
Round 2: Cross Keys 9-12 Pontypool
Q-F: Pontypool 21-11 Bridgend
