Having beaten Melksham at the same stage in the last two year’s competitions by narrow margins, this was always going to be a closely contested match and so it proved as Melksham gained revenge.

A large midweek crowd at Hicks Field watched as play ebbed and flowed with both sides taking turns to enjoy spells of superiority. Melksham were first on the scoreboard as their powerful Fijian prop Savenaca Tuimatanisaqa took a short pass to surge over for a try near the posts, converted by Zach Phlippance but Ben Hurd then touched down his 12th try of the season with Rob Fitch converting to level the scores.

Avon held the upper hand for most of the rest of the half but were thwarted by some excellent Melksham defence and also by not finishing off clear chances in the red zone despite attacking thrusts from Will Bartholomew and Matt Thresher. The visitors had also done their homework to cancel out Avon’s normal productive line out drives by not engaging and thus negating this weapon.

A Fitch penalty gave Avon a 10 – 7 half time lead and they then made an explosive start to the second period. Zak Harwood received the ball in an innocuous position and immediately bounced off his opposing centre before setting off on a 40 metre charge to the try line, leaving another 4 would-be tacklers in his wake. Fitch added the extras and it seemed that Avon might build on their lead.

A key moment then followed as Avon skipper Kane Book was harshly yellow carded for allegedly handling the ball in a ruck. Phlippance slotted the resulting penalty and Melksham then took full advantage of the extra man and makeshift scrum as they created the platform for Tuimatanisaqa to power over for his second try. Shortly afterwards a clever offload out of the tackle saw Chris Partt add another try.

With Phlippance converting both, Melksham had suddenly turned a 10 point deficit into a 7 point lead with about 10 minutes remaining. Restored to a full complement and making some changes off the bench, Avon came back strongly and were rewarded by a try in the corner from Xander Hall-Davis. The attempted conversion drifted wide and further resolute defence enabled Melksham to emerge victorious.

Melksham now await the winners of Bradford on Avon vs Oldfield to learn their semi finals opponents.