In freezing conditions with a treacherous wind, expansive handling proved difficult at times but Avon persevered with their game plan and were rewarded with 6 tries for their spirited endeavours. As Head Coach Kai Harwood remarked afterwards “this result was achieved from an all-round performance which demonstrated the depth and desire from our squad in tricky conditions”

Avon showed their positive intent early on by launching an audacious attack from within their own 22 which resulted in Escher Le Duc seemingly cruising up field through despairing tackles to touch down near the posts. Shortly afterwards, incessant Avon pressure saw Jonny Batchelor scamper through for their second try. Uncannily the conversion was the only kick he missed all afternoon in another outstanding performance which resulted in a personal haul of 15 points.

Tor took advantage of 4 successive Avon penalties to move play from their own 22 to deep inside the visitors territory before reducing the deficit with an unconverted try. Avon responded by building their attacks through a series of short handling moves with skipper Kane Book varying play by either driving forwards or employing soft hands to utilise the powerful running of Dan Cousineau or Josh Hiscott who produced a man-of-the-match performance.

It was no surprise when this paid off as livewire scrum half Kiddie Skeikh burned the blindside defence with another converted try. Then followed possibly the try of the game as another sweeping move from deep inside their own half saw Batchelor surge up field before switching the point of attack with Jake Coates who cut inside for the bonus point try.

Tor meanwhile showed their danger with a quickly taken tap penalty to score a try on the stroke of half time to keep in touch on the scoreboard at 26 points to 10.

But any hopes the home side harboured of a comeback were immediately squashed after the break as Zak Harwood burst through midfield to link with the support before Tom Boreham celebrated an excellent controlled display at fly half with Avon’s 5th try. With a comfortable lead and increasingly difficult conditions imposing handling errors on Avon’s game plan, the match started to stagnate before another purple patch inside the final five minutes. Then Kiddie Skeikh struck an excellent supporting line from a Boreham offload to score his second try of the afternoon.

With the last play of the match Louis Belsten, who travelled three and a half hours to help Avon out at prop, was denied a fairy tale ending after clever inter-passing amongst the forwards ended with an unfortunate fumble on the try line. Next week Avon host Wells at Hicks Field with all supporters welcome to enjoy live local rugby.