Agonising Last Gasp 1 Point Defeat
After winning their last 2 matches with kicks in the dying moments, the boot was firmly on the other foot as Avon tasted their own medicine in losing by a single point with the last kick of the game.
With 2 minutes to go, Avon were trailing by one point. With 1 minute left on the clock, previous week's hero Rob Fitch struck a monstrous drop goal to give Avon a narrow lead, believing they had done enough to snatch another late win.
However deep into injury time, Avon failed to secure the restart, then compounded their error by conceding a penalty for offside. With 30 seconds remaining, centre Kevin Morgan coolly slotted the winning penalty from almost halfway in a dramatic finale.
Earlier, Avon had dominated much of the first half but only had 2 Fitch penalties to show for their endeavours as Quins competed tenaciously at the breakdown to disrupt Avon's flow. Missing the influential Scott Book, Avon's line out never fully functioned and despite 2 heels against the head, the pack was never totally stable.
Wingers Ben Crane and Ross Atherton occasionally looked dangerous out wide but Quins defence proved sound. Up front, Chris Sawyer and Kane Book got through a tremendous amount of hard work but try scoring opportunities were rare.
After Avon fullback Stuart Dilloway suffered a nasty looking spear tackle, skipper Kai Harwood was uncharacteristically sin binned after he discussed the incident with the referee, leaving Avon aggrieved at being a man short rather than their opponents.
Just before half time Zak Harwood celebrated his 21st birthday with a magnificent try saving tackle to deny Quins in the corner but shortly after the restart, fly half Dave Priddy cut back through some lacklustre tackling to score a converted try near the posts to take the lead.
With Quins fullback Scott Manning always looking dangerous, they extended their lead with a penalty midway through the second half. Rob Fitch cut the deficit with another penalty but, although scrum half Ollie Flight threatened, 2 more chances went begging as Avon failed to capitalise before the dramatic denouement.
Avon have no game next weekend and resume their campaign at Berry Hill the following week.
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Bristol Barbarians 5 - Avon 2nds 51
Unbeaten Avon chalked up their 3rd successive bonus point win to cement their position at the top of Somerset 3 North.
Speedster Jack Jones led the way with 4 tries, with the other tries being shared by Tom Jones, Matt Gower, Stuart Thompson, Ollie Harding Wyatt and Dan Mutlow.
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