Avonmoth Old Boys 27 Chosen Hill FP 17

A bright sunny afternoon and a pitch in superb condition set the scene for a fine match between two sides committed to the fifteen man game, with Avonmouth playing at Barracks Lane for the first time this season, looking to kick-start their campaign with a win and Chosen Hill looking to build on last week’s bonus points win over Walcot.

In the end, it was the home side who claimed the five league points with a last minute try and conversion whilst Chosen, despite clawing their way back to within 3 points of their hosts with just minutes to go, went away empty handed.

Playing down the slight slope, Chosen had the best of the opening fifteen minutes with nearly all the play being in the Avonmouth half but the home defence held firm and the nearest Chosen came to scoring was when young winger Ed Higgs charged through to the try line from thirty metres out to set up a series of pick and drives that saw his team mates held up as they crossed the line.

Twenty minutes into the match Avonmouth finally broke the stalemate when forwards and backs combined in a flowing move that ended with winger Charlie Reynolds finishing it off with an unconverted try in the corner.

Five minutes later they increased their lead with a penalty goal from outside-half Matt Belbin and on the half hour they scored again when a penalty was kicked to the corner and the forwards drove the resulting line out over the line with flanker Chuck Evans claiming the try and Belbin converting. Half time arrived with the home side in a comfortable fifteen point lead.

Chosen made changes at half-time bringing on Adam Morgan for Higgs on the wing and Sam Hough for Dave Revell at prop and despite being fifteen points down they were playing with confidence and on fifty eight minutes they looked as though they were going to score when they ran a penalty and hooker Chris Dallard crossed the line, but as in the first half, he was unable to ground the ball and the initiative was lost.

With just ten minutes plus a bit of injury time remaining Avonmouth scored again with an unconverted try that pushed their lead to twenty points and most spectators thought that was it, game over, but Chosen showed great spirit to mount a tremendous comeback. First flanker Tom Gyde raced over for a try converted by Andy King and then four minutes later King intercepted a loose Avonmouth pass and sprinted sixty metres to score under the posts. His conversion narrowed the gap to just six points and two minutes later he struck a sweet long range penalty goal that reduced it to just three points.

With injury time being played, a Chosen back misjudged an Avonmouth kick through and the home side punished the error by driving play to within metres of the Chosen line. A series of scrums finally led to the bonus-point Avonmouth try, converted by Belbin.

So, Chosen who looked right out of it with only ten minutes remaining got right back into the game only to see their loosing bonus point stolen from them with the last play of the day.