Reds opened the scoring with an early penalty but, as Avon’s scrum dominance started to pay dividends, they soon took the lead as Josh Harding-Wyatt touched down a pushover try before producing an inspired man-of-the-match performance with his powerful surges and disruptive turnovers.

Avon were seeking to play an expansive game and Iain Parris and Matt Thresher both had early opportunities on each wing before their second try resulted from a route-one approach as Xander Davis finished off a set of forward drives close to the line.

They couldn’t introduce any continuity to their play though as a mixture of unforced errors, indiscipline and a stubborn Old Reds defence led to a stop-start pattern. Meanwhile the visitors half backs posed threats in attack and conjured a try from a quickly taken tap penalty shortly before half time to close the gap to 2 points.

Following the break, Avon made a more purposeful start and, after Sam Book was denied a birthday try as the ball was dislodged over the line, the black and ambers made no mistake from their next attack as Dan Griffin supported well to score in the corner. James Leeming made an immediate impact from the bench as he collected a crossfield kick from Chris Flavell to sprint clear before passing on to Jonny Batchelor who found Escher Le Duq in space to touch down the bonus point try.

Old Reds, whose ball retention was good throughout, came back strongly and were only denied by some excellent defence by Will Hayward and Ollie Flight. But their endeavours were rewarded after a multi-phased attack from their forwards created their second try. Avon pressure then led to a successful Batchelor penalty before they enjoyed a strong last ten minutes with two further tries. First, they created space from an inside pass for Leeming to scorch through to score under the posts. Then Batchelor dotted down the final try after a flowing move, also adding two conversions to seal the win.

Next week Avon make the short journey to face city rivals Oldfield at Shaft Road.