MINEHEAD Barbarians made the long trip away to Avon where they went down 39-24 amid bright sunshine and barmy temperatures.

Minehead kicked off and applied pressure both in attack and defence that was led by a new centre partnership of Wilcox and Chinn. A penalty relieved the pressure for the home side and then their bigger, heavier pack took hold of the game and drove the barbarians back but the defence was magnificent.

time and time again they tried but were stopped in their tracks by Richards, Willes, Bullard, and Buckingham with Webber turning over possession. On 6 minutes a turnover just 10m out from the goal line and Minehead’s attacking prowess went on the offensive and the ball was shipped quickly through the hands and eventually found its way to Fritz who scored a superb try under the posts with the conversion by Gower.

The visitors didn’t have to wait too much longer for the second. Following some quick rucks from Fritz, Hollingsworth and Chinn the ball was sent out to Gower who was back in at stand off who glided effortlessly through the Avon defence only to be caught by the full back but an offload to Martins allowed the attack to continue and with a strong hand off he sprinted away to the try line. Gower converted from the touchline to increase the lead to 14 – 0.

Avon were rewarded for their efforts on 16 minutes, from a lineout drive and various pick and go’s they scored close to the posts 7 – 14. Avon then scored on 35 minutes with their speedy winger avoiding various Minehead tacklers to score under the posts. Half time sides were tied at 14 – 14.

Avon started the second half and immediately set the forwards running at the Barbarian defence but were matched by a defence that was not willing to give up any territor. However Minehead ran out of numbers and the home side took the lead for the first time 21 – 14.

The players which included debutants Ryan Ayres and young up and coming front rower in Ed Allan collectively rolled up their sleeves and headed straight back attacking at will and on 16 minutes were rewarded when from a lineout well won by Willes fed onto Swann, Floyd and Webber, A cross field kick from Gower eventually found Day who broke the first tackle and scampered away to score in the corner 21 – 19,

Avon then increased the score through a penalty 24 – 19. Minehead once again stuck to their game plan and made incursions into the Avon half with Hawker finding gaps where there were not any, forwards targeting the right areas and a combination of brawn and brain was certainly giving the home side something to think about.

One of these incursions led to James Day’s second try when a drive by Webber found the hand of Gower ably supported by Wilcox, Fritz who gave Day the opportunity to outpace the cover 24 – 24.

However, Avon snapped up three late tries which does not tell the whole story, a story of bodies on the line tackling everything in sight, never taking a backward step. This was a great game and 36 players put on a great performance. The Man of the Match award went to Chris Webber for his outstanding performance.