Already missing a raft of front line backs, Avon suffered further disruption before kick off as Dan Griffin dropped out with a pulled muscle in the warm up. They ended up with three back row players occupying slots in the threequarters, a scrum half at full back, a prop in the back row and three front row forwards on the bench!

So it was ominous as their disjointed team fell behind to three early Clevedon tries, all of which were converted, leaving Avon staring down the barrel at 21 points adrift with only 20 minutes on the clock. To their credit, they responded strongly and not only stemmed the tide but also started to offer attacking threats themselves.

One spell of Avon pressure saw makeshift winger Rhys van den Handel sprint through for a try in the corner. With Jake Coates making several dangerous runs, Avon grew into the game and were only denied a second try as the ball was dislodged in the tackle as Chris Mutlow dived over the line. Then several line out drives were held out just short of the try line as Clevedon’s massive pack repelled Avon’s normal source of scores.

Meanwhile 2nd placed Clevedon demonstrated how they have earned this league position with a series of powerful surges that were only held at bay by some desperate defence in which Kane Book, Ian Burnell and Kiddie Sheikh stood out. Then an intercepted Avon attack saw Clevedon race through to the other end of the field before the chasing Will Bartholomew saved a certain score with a try saving tackle.

With a 21-5 scoreline at the break, both sides largely cancelled each other out for the majority of the second half which was frankly disrupted by too many stoppages and penalties preventing much constructive rugby.

Clevedon added their bonus point try as an attempted Avon attack was again intercepted, allowing their opponents to run the length of the field to touch down under the posts. Once again Avon responded strongly and were only denied another try as Ben Hurd crossed the line only for the score to be disallowed due to a suspect forward pass. Eventually the match fizzled out with Avon next travelling to Taunton to take on the Rebels and hoping for greater availability next weekend.