The WRU have been urged to move Pontypool into the Premiership following the Championship club’s latest high-profile signing.
Pooler have recruited rugby league star Ben Flower, who won three Super League titles and the Challenge Cup during his time with Wigan.
They have also brought on board lock Ashley Sweet and fly-half Matthew Jarvis, who won the Premiership title with Ebbw Vale and Merthyr respectively.
It’s part of a recruitment drive they had already committed to before the WRU announced there would be no promotion this season due to the fixture list being restricted following the Covid shutdown.
Read more: For the latest rugby news and interviews, stop by our home of Welsh rugby
Despite winning the Championship title three years on the trot and leading the way for a fourth season, Pooler have repeatedly been denied Premiership status.
First there was a three-year ring-fencing of the semi-pro top flight, then the introduction of a controversial play-off format.
Last season, they missed out again when the campaign was cut short by Covid and now their hopes have been dashed once more, with no promotion or relegation in the national leagues, which kick off in November.
However, their recruitment was already in place and now, following the unveiling of Flower, there have been calls for the WRU to act.
Dean Ronan, the coach of fellow Championship club Maesteg Quins, feels Pooler are simply in the wrong league.
“I haven’t got any issues with Pontypool,” he said.
“It’s entirely up to them how they run their club.
“They have developed their ground, which is outstanding for the community, and they have made some quality signings.
“I am not having a go at them at all, but they are just in the wrong league.
“That’s not on them, but on the WRU and how they manage it.
“I don’t understand why the Union are keeping them in the Championship.
“They need to be in the Premiership, 100 per cent.
“I don’t know what more they need to do to get in there really.
“They have won the Championship three years in a row. I don’t know why they are still there.
“The players they have got, they could be a region not even a Premiership team.
“If they went in the Premiership, they would be a top four team, no problem.
“Their wages have definitely got to be £200,000, if not a lot more.
“I have worked in the Premiership, I coached Bridgend. I understand how much top level Premiership boys get paid, which they are signing.
“They have got to be up there with the top spenders in the Premiership for the players they have got.”
Ronan says it’s chalk and cheese in terms of the contrast with how his own club operates.
“It’s unbelievable the difference,” he said.
“Our boys buy their own kit, they bring their own shorts and socks to the game after washing them themselves.
“We don’t pay our players at all. That’s something we take pride in.
“After the game, we have a couple of pints put on for them and pie and chips.
“That’s what the boys have on a Saturday, there’s no money.
“How are we even in the same league as Pontypool?
“The disparity is crazy. Why don’t the WRU stop messing about and get them out of the Championship?
“I see Geraint John (WRU community director) said he had to go and visit Pontypool to explain the decision, so that’s almost an admission that they are a different case.
“He didn’t come to South Parade!
“No-one is going to win the league apart from Pontypool, and maybe Bargoed.
“Last year, you would do well to see teams coming within 30, 40 points of either of them.
“They are Premiership teams playing in the Championship.
“I can understand why there’s no promotion this season when you can’t play home and away games.
“But I don’t know why the WRU didn’t make it a 14 team Premiership and move Pontypool and Bargoed up for this season.
“They know they are too strong to be in the Championship. That would have made the Championship a lot more even.”
As fate would have it, Maesteg Quins’ first game of the new league season will be away to Pontypool on November 13.
“I think the boys are just hoping for a stop off on the way home!” said Ronan.
Meanwhile, Welshman Flower, who also played as a forward for the Crusaders and Leigh, has been talking about his move to Pooler.
“I’m looking forward to coming back home,” said the 33-year-old, who was part of Pontypool United’s youth set-up as a teenager.
“I can’t wait to get stuck into training and playing my part in helping Pooler achieve its ambitions.
“I want to help the team in any way I can and ultimately, I want to enjoy the remainder of my playing career because when you’re having fun, you play your best rugby.
“I’ve been really impressed with the professionalism of the club and I’m looking forward to being around a good group of lads.
“It’s also really special for me to be joining the club, because my uncle, Stephen Flower, played for Pontypool for several years throughout the 1980s and to follow in his footsteps means a lot.
“When I walk up those steps for the first time on game day, it’s going to be a fantastic feeling knowing I’ll be representing this club.”
Pontypool’s head coach Leighton Jones commented: “This is an excellent signing for Pontypool on many levels. Ben’s quality as a player speaks for itself. “He is a formidable competitor who knows what is required to succeed at the highest level, time and time again. His experience will be a huge asset to us throughout what will be quite an unusual season.
“The business we’ve done throughout the pandemic to have retained such a strong nucleus and to also add the quality we have in key areas shows we’re as ambitious as ever to keep bringing success to this club.
“We can not control what the WRU does and we have focused on ourselves.”
Pooler called for the WRU’s Community Game Board to resign from their positions with immediate effect following the announcement there would be no promotion or relegation this season.
In a stinging statement, they hit out at what they termed “inept and rudderless decisions that further demonstrates the WRU is not fit for purpose and in desperate need of reform”.
Expressing their “immense frustration and disappointment” over a “lamentable announcement”, they accused the Game Board of “gross mismanagement."
Condemning what they called the WRU’s “continuous incompetence”, they said their investment for the coming season - with the aim of securing promotion - had been “all for nothing”.
In response, the WRU's Community Director Geraint John spoke to WalesOnline to explain the decision, saying the primary reason was it was not possible to have a home and away fixture structure in the time available.
For the latest rugby news, interviews and analysis sent straight to your inbox, you can sign up to our Welsh rugby newsletter here.
