Depleted Avon are beaten on the road
Avon travelled to Minehead with a much-changed side due to injury and unavailability, and could not do enough to bring back the points despite a creditable performance in a 27-12 defeat. Well-drilled Minehead were two tries up after seven mins and looked like they would run up a cricket score early on. Avon slowly regrouped and, for the majority of the remainder of the first period, had the upper hand as Ian Burnell and Josh Hardingwyatt started to make inroads into the defence. Meanwhile, the visitors also had the edge at scrum time against a large Minehead pack and, following a series of scrums on the line, Avon were eventually awarded a penalty try. They looked like they would be going in at half-time 10-7 down with the wind on their backs to follow in the second half. However, Minehead worked themselves upfield and extended their lead with a well-worked converted try. Minehead then added an early second half penalty to stretch the lead. Avon Skipper Scott Book was extending the meaning of utility player as the regular back-row forward played in the unfamiliar role of fly-half, while also having a spell at scrum-half and popping up in the lineout. Despite the makeshift nature of their side, the visitors were still causing Minehead problems and picked up a second try when second row Ben Hurd crashed over in the corner to reduce the deficit to 20-12. Avon gave a debut to impressive winger William Monochino-ayres, who made his first start alongside his father and club chairman Ian, who performed admirably in the second row. Minehead deserved their win and picked up their bonus-point try with 15 minutes left but could not crack a determined Avon defence again. Coach Kai Harwood, who was at his inventive best when it came to the gameplan and resource management, was disappointed with the result but proud of the efforts of his makeshift team. This Saturday, Avon put their unbeaten home record on the line against unbeaten league leaders Wiveliscombe, hoping for the return of a number of key players.