Roughyeds swoop for French flyer

Oldham are delighted to complete the signing of French winger Mathieu Pons on a deal until the end of the season.

The 23-year-old arrives from Saint Gaudens in France and has previous Betfred Championship experience with Halifax for whom he played on a short-term deal last season.

Pons also had a trial at Hull KR at the start of last year after a breakthrough season in France that saw the flying youngster run in 10 tries in 14 games. He arrives to bolster Sean Long's squad ahead of Sunday's 1895 Cup semi-final against Featherstone.

"I am really excited, this is a huge opportunity for me to come here and play for Oldham," Pons told Roughyeds TV.

"This is a really good club with a lot of history and a big team this year so I hope I can help them to win a lot of games and the Cup."

Pons arrives hot on the heels of another Frenchman Eloi Pelissier, with the hooker having made his debut against Toulouse on Saturday.

"It is good to have someone who knows the competition in England to help me get with the team and play. I used to know him as a player and I'm excited to have a French mate here in Oldham," said Pons, who can run the 100m in a lightening 10.9 seconds.

The game here is more aggressive in defence and attack. The English mentality is to give everything on the pitch and the Championship here is better than the one we have in France so I am pretty sure I am going to improve.

My strengths are my physicality, my speed, my jump and my power. I carry the ball hard, I like to run with the ball and my speciality when I was young was the 100 metres."

Pons joined his new teammates for the first time at training on Monday and is in contention to feature against Featherstone at Boundary Park on Sunday (kick-off 2pm) as the Roughyeds bid to reach Wembley for the first time in the club's history.