Devestating Last Minute Drama in 28-19 Loss

Avon's hunt for their first win of the season was not helped by injuries and unavailability which saw Stuart Dilloway playing out of position at fly half whilst Skipper Scott Book, who only returned to action a week ago after a 10 month layoff, was back on the sidelines after picking up a new injury.

Despite these set backs Avon took the game to the Bristol side and, after conceding a early penalty, hit back as their dominant scrummage bagged two pushover tries, touched down by number 8 JJ Pulvertaft. A conversion from Zak Harwood gave Avon a 12-3 lead.

With Dilloway mixing up his game well and debutant Oscar Bryan looking impressive in the centre, everything looked positive for Avon until 5 minutes before half time when they lost full back Ollie Flight to the sin bin for a deliberate knock on. Bristolians took full advantage of having an extra man and scored twice wide out in the 10 minute period.

A few minutes later came the pivotal moment of the game as Avon worked an opening up the left wing but what looked like a scoring offload was instead intercepted and moved swiftly across the pitch to give Bristolians their third try in 14 minutes.

Avon were not prepared to give up and went looking to get something from this game. With Ben Hurd taking a number of strikes against the head, Avon had plenty of possession and got back in the game with 15 minutes to go with a well-deserved try by Dilloway, again converted by Harwood.

The home side added a penalty to extend their lead to 6 points. Avon came close to getting a decisive score in the last few minutes but then a long kick downfield by Bristolians was not dealt with effectively and 6 minutes into injury time, the referee awarded a penalty in front of the post which saw Avon's losing bonus point disappear with the last kick of the game.

Avon 2nds lost by 20-15 against Keynsham with tries from Matt Thresher and Jack Wood, whilst Dan Fair slotted a conversion and a penalty. Next week, Avon host Stroud at Hicks Field, whilst the 2nds entertain Nailsea & Backwell.