Fifth win a row as rivals overcome
Avon continued their winning ways with a 37-14 bonus point away win against city rivals Stothert & Pitt. With seven tries, this was their fifth win on the bounce and cements fifth place in the Somerset Premier.
The game was largely dictated by the notorious slope and the howling wind. Stotherts enjoyed the benefit of the elements in the first half but were generally repelled by resilient Avon defence, led by Ian Burnell and Dan Griffin with Kiddie Sheikh and Tai Harwood in the backs.
The first quarter was scoreless as Avon worked their way upfield, but loose passes and turnovers allowed the Cranes to relieve pressure with huge kicks in the swirling wind, coupled with their attacking runners out wide. Eventually, after a disallowed try from Ian Parris, Avon capitalised as Ben May won good front line-out ball and, aided by a powerful drive from the pack, emerged from the pile of bodies for the opening try.
If anything, Avon were guilty of trying to play too much expansive rugby and paid the price as their attacking move broke down in the home 22 which allowed Stotherts to hack the ball down-field for flyhalf Matt Watkins to win the race and touchdown at the other end. Taylor Thatcher converted.
Avon responded strongly and, after Matt Thresher and Jake Coates combined to move the ball upfield, skipper Kane Book continued a promising attack before prop Chris Mutlow appeared on the wing to score in the corner.
With a 10-7 half-time lead against the elements, Avon were now in the ascendency and soon added their next try as May finished off a series of short drives to score his second. Allied to his good supply of line-out ball and his work rate up front, this led to him receiving the man of the match award.
Stotherts stiffened their defence and Avon over-elaborated some attacks as the next 20 minutes remained scoreless, but eventually the visitors’ power shone through with another four tries. Firstly, Josh Hiscott finished off a lovely handling move from the pack with a try under the posts. In the difficult conditions, this proved to be the only successful conversion as Rob Fitch split the uprights.
Then the black and amber pack exerted another powerful scrum for replacement Dan Cousineau to claim the touchdown for his first try for the club. There was still time for a cameo performance from hooker Ben Hurd who added his experience off the bench, with the Avon front row now boasting over 1,000 caps for the team. With a line-out drive just five metres from the line, there was only one outcome as Hurd resisted all challenges for the ball to power over.
Meanwhile, the Cranes showed their appetite at the other end as centre Dan Gregory took advantage of some lax defence to cut a great line and score under the posts with Rowan Coombes adding the extras.
But there was no denying the evergreen Hurd as Avon had the last word after another powerful surge from their pack saw him put the finishing gloss on an excellent squad performance with their final try.
■ AVONVALE had won their first encounter with Swindon College Old Boys in the reverse fixture earlier in the season and had high hopes of repeating the feat this time around. Unfortunately a combination of poor tackling, dropped passes and wrong decisions brought about their own downfall.
Swindon struck first when a good break by one of their centres created space out wide for the winger to score. Vale came back and, after some strong carries by the forwards, prop Donald Wilkins crashed over from five metres. Near the end of the first half, a loose kick from Vale was fielded by the Swindon full-back who ran through five attempted tackles to create a try for their winger.
The second half was a drab affair with the one highlight for Vale being a scorching line break by winger Will Andrews who hit the line at pace and shot through to score. The try was converted by flyhalf Finbar O’reagan. That was as good as it got for Vale. Swindon scored near the end again due to poor tackling and converted a penalty to leave the Vale 22-12 behind.
To cap it all Vale missed a penalty in front the posts which would have given them a losing bonus point, which they certainly did not deserve.
Coach Dave George said: “If we want to compete at this level we cannot afford to fall off tackles like we did today. We must have missed at least 20 tackles. They were not a good side but we were worse.”
■ CORSHAM travelled to Swanage & Wareham in the Southern Counties South. Swanage were penalised at the first tackle and Corsham placed the penalty into the five metre line before producing a catch and drive from the lineout to score a converted try in the opening minute.
The hosts responded and got on the scoresheet on 12 minutes via a penalty, before a second penalty six minutes later put them within one of Corsham. Swanage took the lead with an unconverted try in the corner before a third penalty increased their advantage five minutes later.
Corsham slotted a penalty of their own to close the gap to 14-10, but three minutes before half-time a Swanage catch and drive saw them go in unconverted for a nine point lead. An early break in the second half brought another unconverted try for Swanage before the hosts ran in their bonus point ten minutes later.
Swanage were penalised seven time in a row in the last ten minutes but survived them all and, with six minutes remaining, Swanage managed a fifth try. Another set of penalties eventually saw Corsham gather a converted try, but it was too little too late as they lost 34-17.
ELSEWHERE, Keynsham suffered a league double against Lydney, losing 52-22 in South West 1 West. In Southern Counties South, Combe Down pulled off a great win to beat third-place Swindon 22-16, while Walcot were beaten 34-19 at Wimborne - the same amount of points they score in the 30-19 reverse fixture defeat.
Oldfield Old Boys were handed a home walkover by Somerset Premier bottom side Crewkerne, as were Keynsham 2nd by Morganians in Somerset 1. Walcot 2nd were whitewashed 54-0 at home to second-place Hornets 3rd in Somerset 2 North.
Keynsham 3rd secured the league double over Imperial 2nd in Somerset 3 North, winning 61-34 to remain top of the table.
Bradford on Avon moved third in Dorset & Wilts 2 Central with a 60-27 win over North Dorset 2nd. Bath Saracens secured a 22-10 victory at home to Salisbury 3rd.
Colerne made it a league double over Royal Wootton Bassett 2nd in Dorset & Wilts 2 North, winning 29-5. Corsham 2nd offered Pewsey Vale a home walkover.
THE next Bath & District Combination meeting is due to be held at the Stothert & Pitt clubhouse on Wednesday, March 30, at 7.30pm.