Chew Valley 41 Thornbury 19
In front of a large crowd in the autumn sunshine the first points post covid came courtesy of a penalty try for collapsing a driving maul after 8 minutes. Chew Valley dominated the forward exchanges early on and veteran former skipper Tom Waddington drove over. With fellow back rower Matt Wright and centres Charles Shallcross and Joe Cowell solid in defence the visitors had little go forward ball. HookerJack Monk was on the back of a driven line out for a try on 26 minutes and skipper Dan Gatton at 10 burrowed over for the bonus point try on the half hour.. Fullback Zac Kavanagh converted two and added a penalty before halftime.
The dominance of the hosts at the breakdown waned after the break as Thornbury edged back into the game and they were unlucky to be held up over the line three minutes in.
Man of the match Waddington capped a fine display with another try on 48 minutes converted by Kavanagh.
From then on it was mostly the visitors applying the pressure and with more ball to play with full back Alfie Richardson was able to control a ball hacked through behind the defence for a try converted by outside half Sam Postie on 48 minutes. a brace from second row James Wood one converted by Postie gave the visitors a sniff of a bonus point. Good defence with debutantes Daniel Brooker at No8 and particularly Jack Summers who gave an assured display at scrum.half to the fore kept them out. Chew Valley completed the scoring with a move off the training ground which would have pleased coach Callum Sheedy, off a linout on half way the backs ran the right lines to put Kavanagh in space with winger Harry Stride on his shoulder with a clear run in. Ignoring the obvious the fullback had the strength to cross for a try.