A CLASH of the Titans, similar to the Lennox Lewis versus Hasim Rahman bout seemed in order when Pontypool's Byron Hayward lined up to face Blackwood's Martin Jones.

Billed as the 'Battle of the Fly Halves' Hayward stormed to a unanimous points victory as Jones failed to find any consistency to his kicking game.

Level 3-3 after an explosive opening 20 minutes, it seemed the try deadlock wouldn't be broken.

Pontypool had the better of the opening exchanges, but aggressive tackling by both sides meant the touchline was not broken until a moment of magic from Pooler's Tongan all-stars.

Good hands from lock Kuli Faletau secured the ball from a Blackwood drop out. He quickly passed wide to fans' favourite Manu Tuipulotu and the 16st flanker cruised upfield with all the grace of a gazelle before tucking a beautiful underarm pass into the hands of the backline for full back Joel Griffin to touch down in the corner for a converted try.

As Blackwood tried to catch their breath, Pontypool scored again.

Towering high for a crisp piece of lineout ball, Faletau moved the ball to the resulting driving maul. Steam rolling 40m, Pooler's forwards bulldozed their way forward to earn a penalty try and with the conversion Pontypool led 17-3 at half time.

Their forwards continued to use the maul as a destructive weapon and Pontypool raced into a 25-3 lead after the break with a Hayward penalty and Tuipulotu try.

Blackwood had been punished for too many handling errors and not making tackles count, yet when they did break they looked dangerous.

Centre Jagger To'o broke upfield and only a desperate tackle by Jonathan Hawker stopped him in his tracks.

But Blackwood now sensed a comeback and a penalty by Jones launched them on their way.

Although lacking fluency in their game, their continued pressure told late on.

Wing Dan Morris touched down in the corner after Blackwood had carved out a well-worked try and with barely two minutes left on the clock Blackwood struck again. A thunderous tackle from Eddie Rawiri resulted in Pooler turning over the ball and Lee Humphries was on hand to hoover it up and race upfield to score.

With the conversion Blackwood trailed by only five points, but their efforts were in vain as the referee blew for full time.

Hayward was happy with the result that propels Pontypool to the top of the league. "Our lineout was good, giving the backs the platform to attack. Our motivation was to be top of the league and now we need to stay there," he said.