So Near Yet So Far

Unbeaten Western Counties league leaders, Cheltenham, were delighted with their escape act after suffering a fearful pounding in the second half and admitted afterwards that this match had been their biggest challenge all season.

Much of the play and tactics were dictated by a strong wind blowing the length of the new pitch at Cheltenham’s impressive facilities at Newlands Park. Facing this wind in the first half, Avon tried to keep the ball in hand as much as possible and made good ground through their short range offloading between the forwards, with Kane Book, Chaz Meddick and JJ Pulvertaft catching the eye. Unfortunately the blustery conditions and a reshuffled back line through injury led to some mishandling when the ball was spread wide. This allowed the Cheltenham Tigers to produce some lengthy kicks downfield to create promising attacking positions, one of which resulted in their opening try through the midfield.

When they added a penalty shortly afterwards and Avon suffered another injury as fullback Stuart Dilloway was forced to leave the field with a shoulder problem, the home side seemed to be in total control. But Avon mounted another comeback and, after a short foray from winger Simon Vanstone, Rob Fitch made a great run up the blindside before finding powerful supporting runners in Ian Burnell, Josh Harding-Wyatt and Meddick. Two attacks from close range scrums were thwarted illegally by the Tigers flanker before he was sin-binned, allowing Avon to force home their advantage with a pushover try from a forceful 5 metre scrum, with JHW dotting down his second try of the season.

Fitch converted to reduce the deficit to a single point at half time and, turning round with the stiff wind at their backs, Avon fancied their chances. They almost immediately took advantage from a kick downfield but Dan Griffin just failed to gather it cleanly. Then Burnell stole up the blindside to create another attack which Zak Harwood almost finished off through the middle.

Although confined to their own half, Cheltenham continued to move the ball through the hands, with sniping runs from their scrum half and bullocking charges from their rangy number 8 proving particularly dangerous. The black and amber wall in Avon’s defence stood firm though to repel these attacks with Sam Book and Ollie Flight putting in a big shift. Eventually, Avon thought that their territorial dominance had paid off as scrum half Nick Tribe stepped inside the cover defence only to lose the ball after crossing the Tigers try line.

This proved crucial as, although Avon later took a 10-8 lead with a monstrous Rob Fitch penalty, Cheltenham were within striking distance and made Avon pay from the restart as they recycled possession several times to set up a converted try for the decisive score. With 4 minutes left on the clock, Avon kicked off to seek another try but were denied the opportunity as the referee mystifyingly blew for time early to the delight of the home fans and the chagrin of Avon’s supporters.

Next week, Avon host 2nd placed and long-time rivals Chew Valley at Hicks Field where they are looking to kick-start their season.