Avonmouth, who last year were playing in South West 1 and seemed a formidable outfit on their own turf, just closed out a 36-29 win after being pushed all the way by a doughty Avon performance.

Although Avon had the edge up front in the scrums and lineouts, their hosts looked very dangerous when they moved the ball wide and eventually capitalised on some missed tackles to score the decisive tries.

The Bristol side took an early lead with a converted try before Rob Fitch closed the gap with 2 penalties. A powerful scrum surge then put Avon in front as Josh Harding-Wyatt touched down a pushover try, with Fitch adding the extras. Avonmouth struck back as they neatly exploited an overlap, leaving Avon with a 13-12 lead at half time.

After conceding a penalty immediately after the interval, Avon then regained the lead as James Leeming anticipated an Avonmouth back ploy and intercepted to race 60 metres upfield for a converted try under the posts. Unfortunately Avon were guilty of trying to play too much adventurous rugby from the restart, before the home fullback took advantage of some wayward defence to create another try.

Avon were undeterred and, with their man-of-the-match Zak Harwood leading the way, forced another penalty which the prolific Fitch nonchalantly knocked over to once again take a single point lead. Avonmouth struck back with a well-rehearsed lineout catch and drive for their bonus point try in the corner.

With youngsters Xander Davis and Jack Garmson coming on for their senior debuts for Avon, another Fitch penalty reduced the deficit before the scoring merry-go-round continued as Avonmouth seemed to make the game safe with their final try. Avon never relaxed and were eventually rewarded for their perseverance as they worked play back upfield to earn a final penalty chance. Rob Fitch held his nerve in an immaculate kicking display to notch up a personal haul of 19 points and to earn his side a well-deserved bonus point.

After the game, Avon were pleased to learn that 3 of their promising youngsters, Sam Wykes, Xander Davis and Callum Smillie, have been selected for Somerset Under 18s.