PONTYPOOL have continued to build for a SSE Swalec Championship title tilt by signing scrum-half Dan Brooks from Llandovery.
The 21-year-old made six appearances on permit from the Drovers last season but was unable to help Pooler get over the line in their bid for a place in the revamped Principality Premiership.
Nonetheless, Brooks has committed to the cause in the Championship and will battle for the number 9 jersey with Aaron Quick and Rhys Dyer.
"We are delighted to have secured the services of Dan on a permanent basis for next season," said head coach Leighton Jones.
"Dan made an immediate impact on the team at a time when we faced quite a severe personnel shortage due to injury at a crucial point of our season and we felt it was essential that he stayed with us on our journey into the future.
"We now have three solid scrum-halves in our ranks which will no doubt be a vital factor in the club achieving its objectives – both short and long term – in what is a highly physical league."
Brooks is excited to be returning to help the club try and emulate Ebbw Vale by winning the Championship title before pushing for a Premiership return when promotion is possible at the end of the 2020 campaign.
He said: "From the short experiences I enjoyed last season and pre-season thus far, it is evident that there is a hard working ethos across the team and staff and it is something I am looking forward continuing to being a part of.
"I am relishing the opportunity to help the team try to achieve its objective of winning the Championship title and I fully embrace the challenges that we will encounter in what is a massively competitive league.
"I want to help take this great club back to the Principality Premiership in the seasons to come and I have no doubt that we have all the building blocks in place to achieve that."
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