...... “all the hard work from the lads paid off and I was just fortunate to be in the right place at the right time!” Well said Dan and congratulations on your influential man-of-the-match display.

His try blitz saw Avon record a 36 -10 win against visitors St Bernadettes, which lifts them to equal second on points in the Counties 2 Somerset league.

Saints fielded a bulky team but were restricted by relentless Avon tackling. Their high pressure defence led to the first try as Cousineau intercepted a wayward pass to touch down under the posts. Matt Thresher added the extras and soon also slotted a straightforward penalty to open up an early 10 point lead.

For much of the rest of the first half, the two teams cancelled each other out on an increasingly heavy pitch. The visitors adopted a fairly limited physical one-out approach but their attacks floundered as Rhys Van Den Handel, Sam Book and Ian Burnell led the way with some inspired defence. Meanwhile when Avon attacked, they always seemed to have the edge with deft offloads from Liam Ridley and Kane Book, supported by sniping runs from Kiddie Sheikh, always posing a threat.

After Dan Griffin again secured clean line out possession, a powerful forward drive saw Cousineau peel off to add his second try. Then a mazy run from winger Jack Moore created an attacking ruck to allow quickly recycled ball to feed Cousineau who cut a great line to surge over for his hat-trick.

A familiar pattern resumed after the interval as Avon launched a powerful scrum drive which decimated the opposition pack to give Cousineau the platform to touch down his 4th try. With Thresher in the zone with his kicking routine, his 4th successful conversion saw Avon 31 points ahead.

Saints were rewarded for their efforts as they started to exert more pressure and opened their account with a try on the left wing. A flowing Avon attack then resulted in Escher le Duc storming over to cap an impressive performance for his 8th try of the season.

Finally, Saints added a consolation try near the end as their centre finished off a late attack to complete the scoring before Chaz Meddick made a 1 minute cameo off the bench before suffering a nasty gash on the head necessitating a hospital visit.

Next Saturday Avon travel to play a rearranged match at Minehead.