It was 10 years ago since The Stags last won at Avon RFC and after last seasons disappointment in this fixture the sun shone on the righteous.


The game started with high intensity and The Stags were forcing Avon to defend for several minutes then were awarded a penalty which Tim Piper converted after 5 minutes. 0-3.

It was clear to say that Avon were not going to be any push over on there own patch, who were strong in the scrums and dogged at the breakdown. This gave them the platform to pressurise the visitors and took the lead by scoring from within their own half. 7-3.

Both teams began to settle with Avon having good possession of ball and testing The Stags defence on numerous occasions. Both teams exchanged missed penalties but it was the visitors who added more points to the scoreboard with Scott Havercroft scoring out wide after several phases of play. 7-8.

With more possession of ball for The Stags, they began to make yards towards the Avon try line but quick line speed, solid in the loose and strong tackling Avon kept The Stags out shortly before half time.

HT 7-8

Changes were made at Half Time with Chris Warner coming on at tight head and Jude Donnelley on the wing. The scrums settled and the tide changed as The Stags had good possession of ball and with the warm and dry conditions the ball was fed from side to side along the back line and it wasn’t long until The Stags extended the lead with Stef Pierce scoring and Piper adding the extras. 7-15

Shortly afterThe Stags were awarded a penalty and Piper kicked to touch. The ball was thrown long and inside centre, Will Hopkins, used his foot skills to control the ball, gathered and hit the oncoming Avon defence to only produce the most audacious off load to the supporting Piper who scored under the posts and converted his own try. 7-22.

Avon are a tenacious team and were not going to let The Stags think they were a push over. Possession was with Avon and they dug deep for many periods of the second half which paid off as they clawed back 14 points with two converted try’s to bring the score 21-22.

The Stags were not going to repeat last years performance, where they let slip a large lead, so were straight back in Avon territory. A few phases of play had passed and the ball was fed along the line with Donnelley sucking in the oncoming defence and passing out wide to Scott Havercroft who bagged his second try of the game with only 5 mins to go. Piper was helped by the cross bar to get the conversion. 21-29.

Avon never gave up and sensed they could snatch the win and scored within a minute to bring the score 26-29 with 4 mins to go which was plenty of time for more points.

Avon managed to regain possession from the restart and pinned The Stags in there own half for the remaining minutes of the game but the visitors held out to seal a tough away win.

Final Score 26-29

Credit to Avon as they dug deep and always found away to keep themselves in the game.

Man of the Match was awarded to Chris Warner.

Next Saturday The Stags are home to Yatton RFC 1st XV