Falcons sinking fast as Bath turn on the taps
BATH 30 NEWCASTLE FALCONS 13
BATH made hard work of their bonuspoint victory over Newcastle, who now trail fellow strugglers Worcester by five points at the bottom of the Gallagher Premiership.
The home side climbed two places into the top six with the 30-13 success and will be happy that England wing Joe Cokanasiga scored scoring one of four home tries on his comeback from a knee ligament injury.
Newcastle had much of the early possession before Bath broke upfield and forced a penalty in front of the posts for Rhys Priestland to open the scoring.
A poor pass by Jamie Roberts then handed possession to the visitors, who broke dangerously down the left wing. The Bath defence regrouped but infringed at a ruck and Toby Flood equalised from short range.
Bath skipper Will Chudley led by example by chasing his own kick and then charging down an attempted clearance by Simon Hammersley. They kept up the pressure and Newcastle found themselves pinned inside their 22.
After close-range thrusts by Nathan Catt, Francois Louw and Elliott Stooke, Chudleigh went wider and quick passing allowed Semesa Rokoduguni to score wide out.
Priestland could not convert and the celebrations were further muted when Stooke threw a forward pass inside his own 22 and, from the scrum, Newcastle forced Bath to concede another simple penalty to Flood.
That cut the home side’s lead to 8-6 after 27 minutes and they might not have been ahead at all if Newcastle had been sharper in attack.
Bath upped the pace and went further ahead when Rokoduguni burst clear from his own 22 and Cokanasiga latched on to a clever kick through by Jonathan Joseph to score in the left corner.
A third try came on the stroke of halftime, this time successfully converted by Priestland, after Chudleigh touched down from a catch-and-drive.
Bath came out for the second half with a 20-6 lead but without Rokoduguni who had been treated for a knee injury. Cokanasiga, switched to the right wing, began to see plenty of ball but his side lost the initiative by giving away needless penalties.
Newcastle took advantage 10 minutes after the restart with a catch-anddrive try of their own, scored by number eight Nemani Nagusa and converted by Flood.
The visitors could have crossed the whitewash again but Bath buckled down to their defensive duties and forced a turnover feet from their own line.
A well-judged clearance by Priestland finally gave Bath a toehold in the visitors’ 22 and the Welsh fly-half kicked a 65th minute penalty to open up a 23-13 lead. Newcastle, responding to their captain Will Welch, were not about to lie down and continued to force Bath into errors – but it was a dropped pass by their own replacement hooker Santiago Sisilo that led to the bonus point try by Louw, converted by Priestland.
To add insult to injury, Sinoti Sinoti fluffed a certain try with his over-exuberant celebrations, losing the ball in the act of scoring.