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Porthcawl continued at the top of the division with a hard fought but deserved win at vastly improved Vardre. The Seaweeds form on the road has been very good this season and they started in determined fashion with lock Nick Nutman showing up particularly well as he made several productive charges into the heart of the home defence to set the tone, aidded by James Burge-Davies and Tom Butcher. One of these surges brought Porthcawl to within 30 metres and when Vardre fell offside, outside half Josh White banged over the penalty for nil-3. Vardre have a large useful pack and when they make a couple of useful forays, they benefitted from a penalty against Porthcawl which outside half Johnnie Evans easily slotted to tie the scores at 3-all. Second row Jake Holland showed his prowess for Porthcawl with some great work at the breakdown, turning over the ball on numerous occasions early on and when a Vardre forward failed to release at the ruck, White slotted his second penalty from fully 43 metres for Porthcawl and 3-6. The match was being played at a high tempo by both sides and home full-back Tom Eynon was having a particularly good match with his catching and attacking, causing the Seaweeds defence a number of questions. For Porthcawl centre Sean Wilcox was also showing up well with some slick distribution, before wing Joe Muir intercepted for Porthcawl outside his own 22 and found himself clear, only to be caught by the covering defence after a great run. It was now the home side’s turn to apply the pressure and when Porthcawl gave away a soft penalty 30 metres out, Evans again brought it level at 6-all right on half time. Porthcawl had threatened throughout the first half to put tries on the board, only for a hatful of chances to fall foul of a forward or dropped pass at the crucial moment. However, when the Seaweeds pack took a scrum against the head, skipper for the day Ross Parsons engineered the ideal platform from which some slick handling found centre Gareth Rees who darted over for a deserved try, which White improved and suddenly it was 6-13 to Porthcawl. Porthcawl lost full-back Ben Thomas to a hamstring pull 25 minutes into the half, being replaced by Sam Parker as the match entered a scrappy final phase with errors aplenty from both sides and with the match needing a defining score, it was White’s boot that put Porthcawl two scores clear as he landed a 40 metre penalty and 6-16, which is how it stayed. Not the most clinical display by Porthcawl, yet full of incident and excitement, it was a relieved Seaweeds side coming away with the spoils. After so many away matches this season, Porthcawl supporters will be glad to welcome their side back to South Road on 26 November for the visit of Tonmawr.