Their only crumb of comfort was by salvaging a losing bonus point in this tricky away fixture.

The scrum and lineout functioned well at set pieces but there seemed to be a collective malaise throughout the team. Poor decision making, a host of handling errors and trying to force things too much all resulted in a disappointing and frustrating display.

Minehead to their credit took their chances well to score 3 converted tries, together with a penalty, but their cause was helped by Avon’s shortcomings. It seemed whenever Avon threatened, they conspired to butcher at least a dozen clear 2 on 1 scoring opportunities.

Set in this context, hooker Ben Hurd was awarded the man-of-the match with a virtuoso hat-trick of tries. The first came from a powerful driving maul, the second from a pick up at the base of a ruck and the third after a successful sweeping attack from end to end saw him finish off in the corner. Jonny Batchelor added one conversion and a penalty to complete the scoring.

With no game next week, Avon have a chance to reflect and regroup before their next home match against Nailsea-Backwell on 12th October, which also sees their Old Players Reunion and VIPs Buffet.