Avon 10 – Cirencester 22

Things started well for Avon as they took charge of possession from their powerful pack and were rewarded with an unconverted try from hooker Ben Hurd as he emerged at the bottom of a piles of bodies after a 20 metre driving maul. After another 15 minutes, Avon repeated the ploy but this time from a lineout catch and drive that saw Kai Harwood, playing in the unfamiliar position of scrum half, be driven over the line for another unconverted try.

Avon’s woes began at the half time restart as the ball wasn’t gathered cleanly allowing Cirencester to develop an attack that forced a penalty to reduce the arrears. An Avon breakout threatened to extend their lead but they needlessly conceded a penalty under the visitors posts and, from the counter-attack, Cirencester exploited some weak midfield tackling to score a converted try at the other end of the field to level the match.

Although Avon still won their share of possession, they were unable to break out of their own half in the heavy conditions and lost the tactical battle as Cirencester kept up the pressure with well-placed attacking kicks. Meanwhile a miss-directed clearance kick gave the visitors space to attack an undefended blindside to take the lead with another converted try.

Avon tried vainly to claw their way back but, in chasing the game, gave away an interception try that put the result out of reach and denied them the losing bonus point that their efforts warranted.

Avon remain in 8th place in the Western Counties league and will be hoping to bounce back away to second bottom side Chosen Hill next week.