Avon lose out to Keynsham

They took an early lead with a well-rehearsed lineout catch and drive for skipper Jack Weston to touch down an unconverted try. Avon opened their account as Rob Fitch slotted a penalty but shot themselves in the foot as they failed to deal effectively with the resulting kick off. This allowed Keynsham to launch another lineout drive infield before their scrum half switched play to score in the corner.

Although starved of any meaningful line out possession due to their missing players, Avon competed more successfully in the set scrums where their front row proved a handful. Alex Gapper, James Leeming and Josh Harding-Wyatt all made promising runs and Keynsham started to concede penalties. Fitch converted two of these, with another two drifting narrowly wide, to reduce the deficit to a single point at half time.

After the break, Keynsham dominated territorially and increased their lead with two penalties. Whilst threatening to cut loose at times, they were thwarted by committed Avon defence led by Damien Sawyer, Zak Harwood and Sam Book.

Avon's hopes of achieving a losing bonus point were dashed though when the Keynsham scrum half exploited a gap to race away on a searing burst from halfway before moving the ball wide for another try in the right hand corner to complete the scoring.

Next week Avon travel to bottom-placed Barton Hill in search of a much-needed win.