After several momentum shifts throughout the game, a disastrous last 10 minutes saw Avon concede 21 unanswered points to leave the scoreboard showing a somewhat flattering 41-15 win for Yatton.

In reality though, Yatton fully deserved their victory as they always had a slight edge, being sharper at the breakdowns, more committed in defence and more ruthless in attack. Yet on looking back, Avon will think that they gifted their opponents 4 soft tries and gave away needless penalties at key moments to undo their good approach work.

The writing was on the cards early on as Avon momentarily switched off to allow the Yatton scrum half to take a quick short penalty for their opening try. With the conversion and a subsequent penalty, Avon were 10 nil down inside the first 10 minutes.

But they bounced back strongly as a flowing blind side attack saw Ian Parris touch down his 12th try of the season after Jake Coates made the extra space from his opposite wing. Jonny Batchelor added the extras and Avon started to string together some threatening attacks through Escher le Duc and Zak Harwood in midfield. Their endeavours were rewarded as Parris and Coates again combined, this time with their man-of-the-match Coates enjoying his roving role to give Avon the lead with a well-taken try in the corner.

Avon looked to build on this momentum but were guilty of giving away unnecessary penalties to undo their good approach work, allied with excellent defence from Yatton. Then an ambitious midfield move went awry and Yatton hacked through the dropped midfield pass to score another converted try to regain the lead.

With half time approaching, Batchelor slotted another penalty to leave the match well balanced at 17-15 to Yatton at the interval. This remained the score line for the majority of the second half as the two teams cancelled each other out before Yatton extended their lead with a penalty.

Avon continued with their offloading game with a series of good handling movements under pressure with Josh Hiscott and Will Hayward prominent but suffered from not making the hard yards to suck in the home defence. With wrong options being taken, basic errors and a high penalty count, together with Yatton’s determined defence and vital turnovers, Avon were left chasing the game. Yatton always threatened and deserved to extend their lead as their centre cut through midfield to add their third try.

Desperately seeking to move into losing bonus point range, Avon threw everything into attack but a promising foray into the home 22 fell apart as the Yatton centre intercepted to race 70 metres downfield to score under the posts. With the clock in the red, it was deja-vu as another desperate attack saw the same outcome with another interception try putting a gloss on the afternoon for a good Yatton team.

Next Saturday, Avon host Imperial at Hicks Field.