During the 2000 Millennium year, Avon proudly celebrated their 75th Anniversary with a series of events throughout the year, culminating in a Grand Jubilee Ball at the magnificent Assembly Rooms in Bath.

During the rest of the decade, Avon continued to progress across the spectrum as they emphasized their “Single Club Mentality” to coordinate all their different sections, Mens, Ladies, Juniors, Minis, Veterans and OAFS (Old Avon Fellowship), at one stage fielding 17 different teams across the Club. The Men’s 1st team became established members of the Somerset Premier league, although dangerously flirting with relegation a couple of times. In 2000, they also welcomed a youngster called Kai Harwood who was later to play a hugely significant role in Avon’s history over the following 25 years (and counting!)

2003 saw an important transitional stage in Avon’s development as they started to integrate a host of their up and coming young players from the Junior section into senior rugby, including Scott Book, Chaz Meddick, Chris and Dan Mutlow, Ben Dilloway, Andy Mead, Ben Crane, Ben Hurd, Alex Morris, amongst others. An even younger group of players were also coming up through the ranks, with the Under 17s beating Bristol in the final of the Bristol Combination Cup (our team included Freddie Burns, later to play for Gloucester, Leicester and England; Ollie Hayes, later to play for Worcester and Bristol; and Kane Book later to become a stalwart of the Avon 1st team pack).

Another notable event off the field was our longstanding Treasurer, Mike Purcell, eventually stepping down after 21 years in the role. Midway through the decade, Clive Book was also asked to act as Head Coach for the Somerset County side (Geraint Lewis and Kai Harwood had represented the County earlier in 2004) whilst Clive was also still playing regular games for our 1st team to nurture his young protegees.

At this stage, the Ladies section was going from strength to strength with good results on the field leading the way to representative honours for several of our ladies eg Georgie Rosario, Jenny Marsh and Georgina Roberts representing England Students whilst Georgie Rosario also went on to play for the full England Ladies national side. Unfortunately, by the end of the decade after 14 years in existence, the Avon Ladies were forced to disband due to the proximity and counter attractions of the Bath Ladies team which received the backing of the Women’s rugby union.

In Kai Harwood’s first season as captain (2006-7), Avon won the Bath Combination Vase for the first time on the Recreation Ground, whilst in 2008 they finished as runners up in the Somerset County Vase. In addition, the league structure was expanded to allow 2nd and 3rd teams to participate in structured rugby competitions, with Avon 2nds taking their place in Somerset 3. This was the start of another golden period in Avon’s history as the 1st team again won the Bath Combination Plate final on the Rec in 2008-9 and 2009-10. By the end of the decade Avon’s growing reputation for good rugby, integration of youngsters, attraction of newcomers, innovative coaching and excellent facilities, saw the performances and results improving steadily, finishing 4th in Somerset Premier. At that time, this was the highest position in our proud history – but even more and better was yet to come!