But equally important has been the way in which Leighton Jones’ side has helped to develop the talent in their squad. Sam Scarfe, Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths and Huw Anderson have all been rewarded for their efforts in the Admiral Championship with Senior Academy contracts at the Dragons.
Scarfe, a Penallta product, scored five tries in 12 appearances at hooker and went on to play for Wales U20. He packed down on the international stage with club mate Kelleher-Griffiths, who also picked up a couple of tries during his breakthrough season.
Full-back Huw Anderson almost came out of nowhere, joining the club at the age of 17 from Caerphilly. Seven tries in 13 games gave everyone a taste of his talent and he earned himself a call-up to the Wales U19 squad.
Scott Matthews receives the league title from WRU board member Bryn Parker
On the playing front, skipper Scott Matthews couldn’t have asked any more from his players as they recorded an ‘Invincible’ season, winning all 26 Championship matches. In 25 of them they picked up the try bonus-point and they won the title by a margin of 10 points over Neath.
There can be little doubt that both Pooler and Neath will be highly competitive when they rise into the Indigo Premiership next season having held off spirited challenges from both Bargoed and Ystrad Rhondda.
It was nothing new for Pontypool to go through their league campaign unbeaten. They did the same in winning the title in 2018 and 2019, but this time they swept the board in the WRU Championship Cup as well, winning four games to make it a perfect 30 wins from 30 games over the course of the season.
PONTYPOOL’S CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD SINCE 2016/17
| SEASON | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | BP | PTS | POS |
| 16/17 | 22 | 21 | 0 | 1 | 805 | 279 | 14 | 98 | 1st |
| 17/18 | 22 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 926 | 239 | 19 | 107 | 1st |
| 18/19 | 22 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 759 | 336 | 18 | 106 | 1st |
| 19/20 | 16 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 746 | 136 | 112 | 78 | 1st |
| 20/21 | VOID | ||||||||
| 21/22 | 11 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 441 | 100 | 10 | 46 | 3rd |
| 22/23 | 26 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 1286 | 292 | 25 | 119 | 1st |
In the league, they averaged 49 points and seven tries per game and conceded an average of 11 points. Add in a further 16 tries and 128 points in four highly competitive cup ties and the figures for the season end up as: P 30 W 30 D 0 L 0 PF 1414 PA 364 TF 205.
Matthew Jarvis
Matthews led the way on the try scoring front, with 20 league and two cup tries, while Deon Smith backed him up with 16 in the league and two more in the cup. Matthew Jarvis top scored with 345 points in 27 league outings and then added another 46 in four cup ties to take his overall tally to 391.
Pooler played out an epic trilogy against Ystrad Rhondda, who got closer than any other team to beating them over the course of the season. In fact, it took an 86th minute penalty from Dai Langdon at Gelligaled Park in the penultimate game of the season to secure a 31-29 victory.
Prior to that, Ystrad had gone to Pontypool Park and lost 28-25 and then fell to a 28-16 defeat in the Championship Cup final. They finished fourth overall after another excellent season.
