But importantly, they showed resilience and adaptability, particularly in the context of several missing regulars.

The first quarter saw Avon mount a number of threatening attacks as Ben May, Josh Hiscott and Xander Davis made the hard yards which gave the opportunity for Escher Le Duq, Kiddie Skeikh and Jonny Batchelor to make inroads. Unfortunately these petered out as Avon failed to provide enough support to achieve the killer pass for the vital breakthrough.

After a concerted period of pressure, Le Duq did finally open the scoring with a well-deserved try and almost repeated the try shortly afterwards but as the half moved on, they became more disjointed. This resulted in some stout defence, where man-of-the-match Sam Book and versatile Matt Thresher excelled in keeping the visitors at bay.

Then Avon’s pre half time nemesis struck again as a key turnover allowed the seasiders to score a try through winger Mike McCarthy. This was converted by Ollie Waldron, who then added a quick penalty which was cancelled out by a similar 3 pointer for Batchelor.

In their first visit to the Avon half after the break, WSM extended their lead against the run of play with Kieran Bromsgrove crossing for a try in the corner. This stung Avon into action with centre Guy Palmer impressing on his first start. Two 5 metre lineouts and scrums were repelled before Batchelor eventually made the pressure tell with another successful penalty to close the gap.

With the result in the balance, Avon introduced experienced stalwarts Ben Hurd and Chaz Meddick to bolster their pack and suddenly a magical run up the touch line saw Frenchy Griffin burst through to outpace the covering defence for the winning try. Batchelor again added the extras and a mature Avon performance in the last 5 minutes allowed them to close out the game to secure the victory.