Playing down the slope in the first half, Avon had the better of the early exchanges and would have been a little disappointed that they did not convert a couple of chances into points. Despite putting extreme pressure on the Stotherts line, the visitors were limited to a penalty try as the home side collapsed a scrum close to the line with 15 minutes gone.

Avon’s next score was the highlight of the game as they put a number of phases together before number 8 Josh Harding-Wyatt, playing just two days before his wedding, cut a great line to burst through and touch down under the posts. Stotherts, who looked well organised in defence, responded with a penalty just before half time.

The greater experience of the Avon side told in the second half as they tightened up their game and cut out the errors. Prop Chris Mutlow showed his pace as he broke away from a tackle to score another try under the posts to open up a healthy lead. However Stotherts were not going down without a fight and, with 5 minutes remaining, scored a well worked try in the corner.

Avon, who had already introduced the powerful Chris Sawyer off the bench, then added the experience of try-poacher supremo Ben Hurd for the final few minutes. He immediately took to his newly-defined role as finisher when he found himself in his customary position at the back of a maul and trundled over the try line for the bonus point score. Jon Batchelor added his 3rd conversion of the night to add to his earlier penalty to complete the scoring.

Director of Rugby Clive Book said afterwards “The players know we still have some work to do on cutting out the errors but we are making steady progress this season and are delighted with the debut performances of Rory Crowther and Josh Hiscoff upfront and the pacey Wilf Nokes on the wing.”