Rampant Bath thrash Newcastle Falcons

Editor

Bath racked up a try bonus point by-half-time as they claimed a deserved 58-5 victory over Newcastle at the Recreation Ground on Saturday.

Todd Blackadder’s men continued to dominate, scoring four more tries in the second period as the Falcons failed to capitalise on last week’s victory over Sale.

Two tries from both Semesi Rokoduguni and Dave Attwood were added to by Matt Banahan, Kane Palma-Newport, Elliott Stooke and a penalty try, while it took Newcastle 75 minutes to find any sort of reply.

The visitors had the chance to open the scoring before Mike Delany’s kick pulled wide, allowing George Ford to make it 3-0 moments later with his first attempt at goal. To add to his two last week, Ford then slotted a drop goal to double Bath’s lead with 13 minutes on the clock.

Falcons’ Vereniki Goneva was shown to the sin bin on the half hour mark, after an in-goal scramble lead to Bath being awarded a penalty try, before Ford converted with ease to take the scoreline to 13-0. Moments later Matt Banahan found the hands of Kahn Fotuali’i, who returned the favour with a clever kick which allowed the winger to score under the posts, with Ford adding the extras.

Clever play from Charlie Ewels then opened space on the wing for Rokoduguni to open his account in the corner, before he added another on the verge of half time.

Ford converted the first expertly from the touchline, but his second attempt drifted wide. Bath’s excellent form continued after the break as Newcastle were penalised for bringing down the maul, before a quickly taken penalty gave Kane Palma-Newport the chance to burrow over the line, with Ford converting to make it 39-0 in favour of the hosts.

Quick hands between Zach Mercer and Fotuali’i then allowed Attwood the chance to add his name to the score sheet, before scoring a second fifteen minutes later having made use of another tap-and-go.

Ford, having missed the first conversion, slotted the second to make it 51-0. Moments after a TMO decision ruled out a consolation try for Newcastle, the visitors finally registered a score as Ally Hogg carried over, although Joel Hodgson failed to add the extras.

However, in the dying embers of the game, Bath still found a reply through birthday boy and debutant Elliott Stooke, whose try was converted by Ford with the last kick of the game.

The scorers:

For Bath:
Tries
: Penalty Try, Banahan, Rokoduguni 2, Palma-Newport, Atwood 2, Stooke
Cons: Ford 6
Pen: Ford
Drop Goal: Ford

For Newcastle:
Try:
Hogg
Yellow Card: Goneva

Bath: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Max Clark, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 George Ford (c), 9 Kahn Fotuali’i, 8 Zach Mercer, 7 David Sisi, 6 Charlie Ewels, 5 Dave Attwood, 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Kane Palma-Newport, 2 Ross Batty, 1 Nick Auterac
Replacements: 16 Tom Dunn, 17 Beno Obano, 18 Max Lahiff, 19 Elliott Stooke, 20 Levi Douglas, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Jeff Williams

Newcastle: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Vereniki Goneva, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 11 Sinoti Sinoti, 10 Mike Delany, 9 Sonatane Takulua, 8 Mark Wilson, 7 Will Welch (c), 6 Evan Olmstead, 5 Will Witty, 4 Calum Green, 3 Jon Welsh, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Alex Rogers
Replacements: 16 Ben Sowrey, 17 Sam Lockwood, 18 Paddy Ryan, 19 Sean Robinson, 20 Ally Hogg, 21 Michael Young, 22 Joel Hodgson, 23 Dominic Waldouck

Referee: Ian Tempest
Assistant Referees: Gareth Copsey, Simon McConnell
TMO: David Rose