The game started sadly for Avon as livewire scrum half Kiddie Sheikh suffered a nasty head injury and had to be escorted from the pitch inside the first two minutes. This opened an early opportunity for Nat Harding to make his debut in the centre in a rejigged back line, a chance he made the most of with a second half hat-trick in a man-of-the-match performance.

Young flanker Tom Baldwin opened the scoring as he gathered a loose ball to power through the attempted tackles over the try line. Rob Fitch converted. Shortly after, Chew struck back as a missed tackle allowed them to score in the corner.

Avon soon got on top and a line out drive infield created the position for stand-in scrum half Fitch to dive over on the blindside. The Avon backs then started to click and good offloads from Jake Coates, Nasoni Adrole and Nat Harding moved the ball wide to winger Iain Parris who cut inside to touch down.

Chew Valley were playing a fast expansive wide game and their attacks were rewarded with two well-taken tries to leave the scores level at 17 apiece at half time.

Within minutes of the restart, Avon hooker Sam Book celebrated his 250th game with a popular try after Ed Higgins cut a good line through the home defence. Fitch again added the extras.

Chew then enjoyed a good 20 minutes as their high-octane rugby caused Avon all sorts of problems. With a man in the sinbin for repeated team offences, Avon’s defence was eventually stretched as Chew Valley added another two tries to take the lead and ensure a try scoring bonus point.

With a switch in the half back pairing and a change of tactics, Avon then enjoyed a purple patch as their pack ensured front foot possession to allow their dangerous backs broken field opportunities. Firstly, a powerful lineout drive sucked in the defence, then a back line ploy put Adrole into space to score near the posts. Another series of forward drives, followed by swift handling gave Harding a clear run to the try line.

With a cushion on the scoreboard, Avon grew in confidence and launched an attack from deep inside their own half to release Adrole who set off on a devastating 70 metre run which ended with a try under the posts. Harding then took advantage of a kind ricochet from a Chew foray to score in the corner before completing his hat-trick with the final try of the game after another sustained attack. Another 4 conversions from Fitch completed the scoring in an excellent win before next week’s home match against Minehead.