It was clear from the early stages that Avon needed to adopt a wide expansive style to exploit Saints narrow defence – and, when they did so, it paid handsome dividends although Saints played their full part in a high scoring game that saw 12 tries on a bitterly cold afternoon.

Avon showed their game plan early with a series of rapid attacks, many instigated by a livewire performance from Ollie Flight in a rare outing at centre. But a sudden breakout down field saw St Bernadettes take an early lead with a converted pushover try against the run of play. A reshuffle resulted in 2nd team captain Louis Belsten take over the propping duties where he turned in a magnificent performance to anchor the scrum.

Although missing 12 of their 1st team squad members, Avon showed their strength in depth as they worked their way upfield with a mixture of hard running from Kane Book, Chaz Meddick and Ryan Dellow up front, together with a man-of-the-match performance from Escher Le Duq whose powerful breaks and tackles wreaked havoc. Soon Avon got on the scoreboard as Xander Davis surged over the try line, then quick ball was moved wide to Iain Parris (who later pulled off 3 stunning tackles to confound his critics) and scorched over in the opposite corner to take the lead, with Chris Flavell adding the extras.

Saints showed their capabilities just before the interval as their dangerous right winger touched down the equalising try for a 12-12 draw at half time. They then enjoyed their best spell of the game for the 15 minutes after the break as a yellow card saw Avon reduced to 14 players and suffering from a spell of uncertainty and disorganisation. Saints took full advantage as they exposed some missed tackles to notch up a healthy lead with 2 more tries to collect their bonus point.

This deficit could have sapped Avon’s morale but they responded with a display of tenacity and flair as they launched wave after way of attacks with Will Hayward playing like a man possessed after his return to action and were rewarded with another 5 tries to put the result beyond doubt. A massive 30 metre drive after clean line out possession from skipper Kane Book set them on their way into the corner before another line out drive resulted in Xander Davis emerging from the pile of bodies to claim the try.

Jonny Batchelor, who had looked threatening on the counter attack throughout, then ghosted through a bemused defence to score out wide and reduce the gap to two points. There was then no stopping Davis as he completed his try hat trick with another powerful surge over the line to take the lead. After Sam Book had burrowed forward to set up quick loose ball, Ollie Flight’s efforts were rewarded as he scampered through a huge midfield gap to touch down under the posts. A Flavell chip was then fastened onto by Batchelor as he outpaced the defence on a snaking run for Avon’s 7th try. With another 3 conversions from Flavell, the visitors enjoyed a comfortable lead whilst Saints had to make do with a consolation try at the end as their winger once again touched down.

Afterwards Director of Rugby Clive Book said “This was an all-round team performance in a difficult environment but with several players putting in huge shifts to cause us tricky selection problems in the weeks to come” Next week, Avon host Wells at Hicks Field with a 2:30pm kick off.