The away fixture at Minehead earlier in the season had been a closely contested affair with the Barbarians edging the result by 5 points and this followed a similar pattern with Avon taking the spoils in a pulsating end to end game by the same margin. On this basis, next season’s fixture promises to be a cracker!

Third placed Minehead took an early lead as they exploited an Avon yellow card from centre Olly Flight for their full back to carve through a midfield gap for a converted try under the posts. With Avon then starting to enjoy more possession, they stretched the visitors defence and levelled the score as a certain try from winger Jack Moore was only halted by a high tackle. This resulted in a penalty try and a yellow card for the BaBa’s defender.

More adventurous handling then saw the ball swiftly transferred to winger Iain Parris who made good ground down the touch line before passing out of the tackle to the supporting Zak Harwood who crashed over the try line. Rob Fitch converted to give Avon the lead but Minehead responded again and earned two successful penalties to narrow the score to a single point. With half time approaching, more sustained Avon pressure was rewarded as a long miss pass from Fitch found Moore in space to score in the corner for a 19 – 13 lead at the break.

With Will Hayward enjoying an excellent performance on the flank after injury and Dan Cousineau and Xander Hall-Davis making powerful inroads, Avon had a more settled look and extended their lead further from a Fitch penalty. Another sprint down the wing by Parris seemed sure to result in another try but a desperate last ditch tackle from the covering defence saw the ball dislodged as he dived for the line.

This seemed to encourage the visitors who added another converted try after a series of missed tackles on their winger. Shortly afterwards, a massive counter-ruck from Minehead in their own 22 halted a promising Avon attack and they swiftly moved the turned-over ball out wide to snatch the lead with another converted try.

In this topsy-turvy game which was admirably refereed by experienced official Jonathan Healy, it was now Avon’s turn to show their attacking prowess as good hands fed the ball to flying winger Moore who burst through 3 tackles to score in the corner. Driving forward play then created another opportunity and Harwood celebrated his return from injury by cutting a great line to also score his second try unopposed near the posts, Fitch added the extras.

As the match entered its last quarter, Avon felt that one more score should put the result beyond doubt. Minehead however had other ideas as their dangerous winger again took advantage of some poor tackles to touch down at the other end from a counter attack. This levelled the scores at 34 all with Parris also sent to the sin bin for a high tackle.

Finally, the try of the match followed as a fitting way to settle this enthralling contest. A flowing three quarter move again found Moore in space down the touch line where he passed out of the tackle to the supporting Harwood who in turn kept the ball alive to Cousineau. As the last despairing tackle came in, Cousineau released the ball again to Moore who launched himself over the try line to complete his hat-trick in style.

There was still time for the Barbarians to seek one last onslaught but the Avon defence held firm to seal an impressive victory, leaving the black-and-ambers with the 5 points and the visitors with 2 in consolation.