With the heavy conditions and a greasy ball, this match was never an open spectacle and mistakes abounded as both sides enjoyed spells of ascendancy. Although Avon were fielding a number of players in unfamiliar positions, they had greater strength in depth and demonstrated enough character to come from behind and close out the win.

Tor applied incessant early pressure but, having weathered the storm, Avon broke upfield but inexplicably failed to take advantage of a 3 man overlap and the try-scoring chance went begging. Tor made them pay for their profligacy as they took advantage of a 2 on 1 overlap to open the scoring with a try by their right winger, then shortly afterwards extended their lead with a penalty.

Avon threatened with some individual breaks as JJ Pulvertaft, Dan Griffin and Chris Flavell all burst through the first line defence only for the threats to peter out due to handling errors. Fielding a massive pack, Josh Hiscott and Ryan Dellow also made inroads up front but with little positive outcome until Josh Harding-Wyatt broke the gain line to earn a penalty which Flavell slotted to reduce the gap to 8-3 at half time.

Avon thought they were about to open their try scoring account shortly after the restart as winger Matt Thresher collected a cross field kick only to be recalled for an earlier offside offence. After withstanding another Tor attack, Avon coach Kai Harwood brought Scott Book and Will Hayward off the bench and immediately started to reap the benefits as clean line out possession resulted in a huge forward drive down field. An intense period of pressure then followed as an Avon try was disallowed with the referee unsighted before two scrum surges brought penalties close to the line. Eventually the pressure told as livewire scrum half Kiddie Sheik capped an impressive display to level the scores with a try in the corner.

As Avon started to exert more control, they took the lead with an opportunist try from Pulvertaft who showed some deft footballing skills before winning the race for the touchdown out wide. Despite some nervy moments in the last 5 minutes as Tor sought the decisive score, Avon’s defence held firm to close out the narrow win.

Next week, Avon have a rearranged away game against St Bernadettes in Bristol.