Oldham have strengthened their squad with the signing of French winger Mathieu Pons through the end of the season, adding international firepower ahead of Sunday’s 1895 Cup semi-final against Featherstone.

The 23-year-old arrives from St Gaudens with previous Championship experience from a short-term stint at Halifax last season, where he caught attention after scoring 10 tries in 14 games during his breakthrough campaign in France. Pons also trialed with Hull KR at the start of last year before making the move to Oldham.

“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 joins fellow Frenchman Eloi Pelissier, who debuted against Toulouse on Saturday, giving the winger a familiar face as he adapts to English rugby. “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,” Pons said.

The speedster, who clocks 100 meters in 10.9 seconds, trained with his new teammates Monday and could feature Sunday at Boundary Park as Oldham chase their first-ever trip to Wembley. “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,” Pons noted. “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.”

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