Taunton Warriors Celebrate League Title

Led out by hooker Sam Book on his 200th 1st team appearance, Avon made a shaky start as they conceded an early try after Taunton centre Joshua Guest rounded off some fine inter-passing to touch down in the corner. But as Avon settled down, they threatened with several scrums and line outs deep inside the Warriors 22 but were repelled by good defence. Eventually their pressure was rewarded with a Jonny Batchelor penalty.

An excellent attacking move through the middle saw winger Iain Parris scythe through on a 40 metre dash before running out of support options. Then a yellow card for a high tackle reduced Avon to 14 men and gave Taunton the impetus to storm through, only to be repeatedly denied by committed tackling, epitomised by Ben Hurd holding up an attempted surge over the line. Eventually the pressure told though as Guest sold a dummy to add another converted try.

The Warriors mixture of youth and experience continued to threaten before Xander Hall-Davis charged through the midfield to suck in the defence. This allowed swiftly recycled ball to be moved wide to Batchelor who slipped a delightful inside pass to Matt Thresher for his 23rd try of the season to narrow the gap to 2 points on the stroke of half time.

Unfortunately Avon didn’t deal well with the resulting restart and a charged down kick gave the Warriors the opportunity to burst over for their 3rd try through Andy England.

After the interval, Avon again struck back as Dan Griffin won clean line out possession to launch a massive forward drive. When this was slowed down, the ball was transferred along the backs where Jake Coates sliced through a gap and the supporting Kiddie Sheikh offloaded to Griffin to finish off an excellent team try.

Avon now enjoyed their best spell of the game, threatening with incisive runs from Thresher and Coates and a powerful display from man-of-the-match Escher Le Duc. Taunton again responded with a series of charges near the visitors line and eventually number 8 Mike Owen crashed over for their bonus point try to open up a 7 point lead. Avon again counter-attacked seeking the vital score that would see them draw level but, with 5 minutes remaining, the Warriors ruthlessly seized on a knock on for Guest to complete his hat-trick.

Throwing caution to the wind, another last minute attack from Avon broke down and Taunton broke away for their final try from Ollie Guest. With fly half Ben Alvis slotting another 2 conversions, the score line suddenly presented a slightly distorted view of the pattern of the game. This was reflected as the stadium announcer congratulated Avon for their performance, saying that they were the best opponents that Taunton had played all season.

On Saturday, Avon are due to finish their league season with a home match against Oldfield.