A game of 2 Halves

Avon Skipper Kai Harwood made his first start since January but was unable to steer his side to a victory at a very blustery lobington.
Chews had chalked up over 200 point in their last 3 games and were intent on keeping up their attack minded game.

Avon had the strong wind on their backs first half and their set pieces were as strong as ever with Prop Chaz Meddick dominating from the Tighthead position and despite missing their 2 regular second rows Scott Book providing ample lineout ball.

Unfortunately it was Avon’s scrum dominance which assisted is Chews first try when the ball squirted ot of the back of a Chew 5 metre scrum to fall kindly to allowed a 2 on 1 wide out that gave winger Jack Evens a simple score.

The Avon Pack then exerted some extreme pressure on the Chew line which saw the ref penalise the Home side 4 time just 5 metres from their line but in the end Avon had to settle for a Rob Fitch penalty.

It was missed one on one tackles which were to end up costing Avon this game as First Fly Half Dan Gatton sprinted through to score under the post and then Avon were guilty of going too high on powerful lock Darren Jefferies who popped up in midfield to exploit the weak tackling.

At Half time Avon were 19 3 down and now having to play into the strong wind. To make thing even more difficult they lost their only recognised lineout jumper Scott Book through injury just before the break.

Chew started the second half strongly as expected but Avon were not going to make the defensive errors of the first half and after 15 mins of not being able to break down the defence and being turned over at scrum time by the collective efforts of Mutlow, Hurd and Meddick decided in the end to kick for goal to extend their lead to 22 3.

Avon lead by some good driving work from Burnell, Harwood and Kane Book got themselves into a good attacking position which saw Skipper Harwood score close to the posts. Fitch Converted. Chew although struggling at the set piece continued to look dangerous with the ball in hand and eventually centre Charles Shallcross showed some good footwork to score close to the post and give the home side the bonus point. Avon however were not finished and when Ollie Flight took a quick tap penalty he fed Fitch who gave a lovely delayed pass to Damien Sawyer for his first try of the season.

Avon were unlucky not to add a third when young fullbback James Leeming showed an exceptional turn of pace to glide through a gap form 60 m out and was just tackled into touch 2 metres from the line.

So the final score ended 29 17 and having won the second half against the wind Avon were left to think what might have been had they performed in the first half.