Whilst the result was deeply satisfying at their old Somerset rivals difficult ground, the performance itself was perhaps a little lacklustre.

The first half playing up the slope was particularly frustrating as a mixture of handling errors and some shoddy tackling allowed Wells to stay in contention despite the feeling that Avon could cut loose at any time with a little more concentration.

Some unrelenting forward drives early on laid a solid foundation before a powerful rolling maul saw Xander Davis force his way over for their opening try with Jonny Batchelor adding the extras. Instead of building on this platform, Avon seemed somewhat lethargic and Wells took advantage of a missed tackle in midfield to level the scores with a converted try.

Avon restored their lead as Zak Harwood sold an exquisite dummy on halfway to burst upfield before timing a perfect pass inside to the supporting Batchelor who sprinted clear to touch down under the posts and slot the straightforward conversion.

Things all became a little frantic then as errors from both sides prevented any real fluency. One crunching tackle from Russ Hindmarch almost led to another score out wide and, as half time approached, Avon were camped on Wells try line but repelled by committed defence.

A hard-hitting team talk from coach Kai Harwood initially had little impact as Avon resumed in a similar vein, hanging off tackles and conceding unnecessary penalties. Then Avon started to respond positively with Dan Griffin and Ian Burnell driving forwards to set up a penalty chance which Batchelor gratefully accepted to extend their lead. Another midfield burst from Harwood again fed Batchelor out wide before the covering defence snuffed out the opportunity.

Already missing some regular backs through injury and unavailability, Avon suffered some further disruption as an excellent performance by Tai Harwood was marred as he was helped off with a dislocated shoulder. With veterans Ben Crane and Ben Hurd coming on and youngster Oscar Cormack making an impressive debut off the bench Avon finally started to impose more discipline and continuity. A flowing three quarter move saw the ball moved wide for man-of-the-match Batchelor to cruise in for his second try with the attempted conversion hitting the post.

Sensing the chance of the bonus point try, some clever tactical kicking down the slope forced Wells deep inside their own 22 where they conceded a penalty. The resulting short range line out was cleanly won by Rhys van den Handel at the front to set up a monstrous forward drive with Davis again the beneficiary for his 6th try of the season to clinch the bonus point victory.