First Hard-Earned Points of the Season Achieved

With 10 players unavailable and several playing in unfamiliar positions, Avon thought they had done enough to earn a draw as the match approached 15 minutes of added time before a cruel interception try allowed Imperial to snatch a narrow win. Afterwards head coach Kai Harwood said “I have nothing but admiration for the brave performance from the whole squad who deserved a better outcome but showed a positive platform to build upon in the next few weeks”

Imperial were on top in the opening stages and a succession of forward drives resulted in an early converted try. After being under the cosh initially, Avon started to counter and drew level as Ian Burnell peeled off from a line out drive to touch down. Matt Thresher, producing a decent display in the unfamiliar role of fly half, added the conversion from out wide.

For much of the rest of the first half, the two teams cancelled each other out as the defences held firm despite some powerful charges from Xander Hall-Davis and Zak Harwood as various individual errors spoiled promising attacks. Then as the interval approached, another baffling decision gave a penalty to Imperial whose huge 2nd row forward powered through the attempted tackles to add their second converted try.

Avon immediately levelled the scores again after the break through man-of-the-match Kiddie Sheikh. The first half had showcased his unrelenting cover tackles and sniping runs from scrum half. Then from a blind side scrum, he left his opposite number snatching at air before side-stepping the winger and outpacing the defence for an outstanding try. Thresher again added the extras.

With Imperial then slotting a penalty, Avon suddenly exploded into life to take the lead. A delicate offload from skipper Kane Book unleashed a mesmerising run from Rhys van den Handel who found the supporting Ben May to power over for their 3rd try.

In this topsy-turvy game, Imps again struck back as their dangerous fullback made inroads before kicking to the corner for the winger to regather and touch down. Once again, Avon responded to re-take the lead with their pack starting to exert their influence. It was no surprise when the predatory Ben Hurd came off the bench and scored their bonus point try with his first touch of the ball from a powerful line out drive again safely secured by Dan Griffin. Thresher again converted.

With increasingly mysterious decisions starting to abound, the Imperial full back capped a fine game with a mazy run to zigzag through for another converted try. Thresher levelled the scores at 29-29 in extra time and it seemed that a draw was the deserved result for both sides before that final interception sneaked the victory for Imperial with the last significant move of the game.

Avon also welcomed back an old face to bolster their squad as Gary Oblin travelled down from London to help out his boyhood club with a cameo appearance, whilst Chairman Ian Monochino-Ayres answered the call to stand in on the bench for emergencies and carried out the essential role of water-boy in the sweltering conditions.