Valley Cougars remain top of Conference League South after overcoming Welsh rivals The Raiders 34-26 in a classic encounter at Treharris RFC on May 30.
The Raiders beat the Cougars in the opening game of the season and it looked like they could be on for a double after two early tries had put them in an early dominant position.
Alan Pope was close for the visitors in the first five minutes before Luke Williams went over to give them the lead. Dan Fox converted.
Not long after, the Raiders doubled their lead as Morgan Jeffries goes went under the sticks and Fox converted again to make the score 12-0.
Cougars struck back after a good set and great passing move saw James Allen score out wide. Ross Jones converted well.
A third try for The Raiders gave them a ten-point lead as Andrew Rees Stobart went over but a second try for Allen two minutes before the break with Ross Jones converting put the Cougars just four points behind.
Player-coach Dafydd Hellard marshalled his troops well and the Cougars had the game won in the first 20 minutes of the second half.
Dan Davies ran over for two quick tries with Jones improving both to turn the game on its head.
Raiders hit back with a Ben Phillips try but Dan Matthew addressed the balance straight away before Davies ran through for his hat-trick with Jones adding the extras to make the score 34-20.
Raiders had the last say on the hour mark as Keiron Williams got a try back which was converted by Fox before a great defensive effort from the both sides rendered the final quarter of the game scoreless.