PONTYPOOL may be perfect in the WRU Championship but it’s not the wins that has most pleased head coach Leighton Jones this season.

Pace-setting Pooler are next in action when they host Gynneath on January 7 and are making the most of the break for the festive period.

The squad enjoyed a bonding session at the Welsh National on Tuesday, although Jones promised that “on Thursday they will be put through their paces” to make sure they don’t ‘do a Devon Loch’ in the New Year.

And the boss, who took the reins in the summer, believes the squad spirit means there is no danger of focus being lost even though they hold a 12-point lead over second-placed Narberth.

“We are really pleased with 14 from 14 but I am looking deeper than results and what I am even more happy about is that I am seeing us grow our culture and as a club,” said former hooker Jones.

“The ethos is growing really strongly and that’s down to the boys and their effort and honesty.”

The revamped 16-team, ring-fenced Principality Premiership means Pooler can’t win promotion until 2020.

Facing up to that frustrating reality has allowed the club to focus on developing, according to Jones.

“We know if we win the league that’s it, we are not going to get promotion,” he said. “That’s allowed us to peel everything back and drive for what’s important for us as a club.

“The senior group of players are helping drive that forward and have really been a strength for us. They have led it themselves and that’s great for us as coaches.”

Bookies would no longer accept bets on Pooler being champions but they won’t get the chance to slug it out with Premiership teams week in, week out until 2020/21.

They can, however, test themselves in the WRU National Cup and the first chance to do that comes on Saturday, January 28 when they head to Parc y Scarlets to face Llanelli in a game that will be broadcast live on s4c (kick-off 2.45pm).