Having arrived late due to a hold up on the motorway, Avon made a slow start with Nailsea dominating possession for the first quarter. Despite being under constant pressure, Avon’s defence was impressive and it took 20 minutes before the home side drove over from close range for their first try. Unfortunately it only took another two minutes for the next to follow as the Nailsea winger ran an excellent line in broken play to race away to score under the posts.

With a number of new recruits in the back line this season, the Avon backs are starting to look more and more dangerous, epitomised by Chris Flavell who,having played scrum half and fly half in his first two appearances, moved to outside centre where he proved to be just as adept. After he cut through the Nailsea defence and raced 50 metres upfield, he was only illegally halted just short by a high tackle. From the resultant penalty, Avon kicked to the corner and Ben Hurd once again was the try benefactor as the pack drove over for their opening score.

Avon biggest problem, in a game in which they picked up a bonus point for scoring 4 tries away from home, was an inability to build and retain momentum and within three minutes Nailsea had cancelled the score out with a try of their own. Avon’s second try was a carbon copy of their first with Hurd again finishing off a line out drive. Yet once again Nailsea struck back within minutes to add another try for a 28-14 half time lead.

Playing down the slope, Avon scored shortly after the restart when Xander Davis plucked an overthrown line out of the air to bundle over wide out.

With only one score in it, Avon looked like the most likely team to win with debutant scrum half Kiddie Abdulquddus looking very impressive as he settled into the game. However they could not turn their pressure into points and it was Nailsea who extended their lead with a penalty. Again Avon got back into striking distance when Xander Davis collected his 2nd try with Jonny Batchelor slotting his 4th successful conversion. But, for the third time in the game, they conceded another score shortly after the restart and eventually had to settle for a single bonus point in a 38-28 defeat.

Despite the 3 narrow losses, there is no panic in the Avon ranks. They had to make 5 changes this week due to injury and and unavailability and introduced a third youthful debutant this season when young 2nd row Ben May came off the bench for his first completive game in 3 years and showed real promise.

Avon’s fixture list does not get any easier though as they face Imperial next week followed by a trip to unbeaten Minehead.