Playing into the wind, the first half performance was slightly underwhelming as Avon made a series of handling errors and were guilty of trying to force things too much. After the break, however, they clicked into top gear and produced an outstanding display of attacking rugby which mesmerised their opponents and the spectators from their Old Players Reunion.

Dan Cousineau opened the scoring by touching down an early pushover try from a set scrum, converted by Jonny Batchelor. After weathering sustained Avon pressure, Nailsea-Backwell counter-attacked and were rewarded with a penalty. Despite dominating the scrums and lineouts, Avon were repelled by a mixture of good defence and wrong options before Dan Griffin added a second try in the corner. This was followed by another try from a powerful drive as Sam Book emerged from the pile of bodies to make it 17 – 3 at the break.

A revitalised Avon exploded into life in the second half, adding another 8 tries as they displayed a wide range of skills, interlinking forwards and backs to really hammer home their superiority. Some powerful midfield bursts from Escher le Duc and Tom Boreham supplemented some mazy runs from wingers Jack Moore and Iain Parris. Meanwhile Oscar McCormack, Ben May and Kane Book kept the pressure on up front.

A penalty advantage saw Rob Fitch kick wide to the corner where Batchelor athletically leapt high to gather and touch down in the corner. Then from a massive scrum against the head, the ball was swiftly transferred to Le Duc to crash over at the posts. The scrum dominance continued as the referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty try from a deliberate collapse, taking the score to 36 – 3. Avon then gave a debut to new recruit Dave Attwood off the bench.

Cousineau capped a tremendous performance, showing pace and power for another two tries to complete his hat-trick. Then Rhys van den Handel was rewarded for his consistent performances with a well-deserved first try for two seasons. With Avon’s confidence sky high and seeking opportunities across the pitch, their last two tries were scored by Rob Fitch and Liam Ridley after flowing moves. Batchelor added 7 conversions for a personal 19 point haul but the Man-of-the-Match award was presented to Sam Book for his all-action display.

Meanwhile Avon 2nds recorded a 29 – 5 win against the Bath University Jaegers in a friendly match played in great spirit and camaraderie between the two teams. For the Avon self-styled “Elite” the tries were scored by Ben Hurd, Neil Heath, Lister Metcalf, Alex Jackman and Ed Higgins. Paul Bates slotted 2 conversions, whilst the Jaegers responded with an excellent try to complete a wonderful afternoon of rugby at Hicks Field.

Special mention must be made to twins Chris and Dan Mutlow on celebrating their 40th birthdays in these two matches, Chris with his 463rd 1st team match and Dan nearing 300 appearances for the club teams.

On Saturday, Avon make the short journey across town to face city rivals Oldfield at Shaft Road.