Last week's loss to Bristol was put in some perspective last night after Bristol stormed to the top of the Premiership table with a narrow win over Glawster. However everyone at the Rec for the game against Newcastle knew improvement was required in many areas if the losing streak was to be brought to a halt. 

The backs started the match with far greater zip than last week, passing and running with confidence, and they secured two penalties for Olly Barkley within the first six minutes: one successful, one not. The successful kick was a beauty from half-way with Barkley hitting the ball's sweet-spot.

Newcastle drew level after 22 minutes when Tom May scraped over a grubber-like drop goal as he saw his colleagues struggle to make a dent in the Bath defensive wall but Olly Barkley regained his side the lead a few minutes later with another penalty, after a visiting prop was accused of boring in at a scrum. The kick was a beauty splitting the posts right through the middle.

Picture courtesy Jules

Barkley extended the Bath lead even further after running in under the posts for the opening try of the match. The Bath pack grabbed ruck ball and quickly fed the backs with Shaun Berne cutting through the Newcastle line and taking a big hit as he delayed his pass to Barkley, giving the England player sufficient space to dip past Matt Burke and in for his score. Berne looked strong throughout the game and worked well with both Barkley and Eliota, cutting through the defence and off-loading to set up several good attacking moves.

Unfortunately Bath returned to their sloppy best just before half-time by giving away a kickable penalty when possession was order of the moment - 13-6 instead of 13-3 meant Newcastle trotted off for their sweet tea still in touch of victory instead of several scores in arrears.

Picture courtesy Jules

Matt Burke drew his side closer with a penalty after 55 minutes and Joe Shaw grabbed the lead nine minutes later with an unexpected try. Bath had a scrum on half-way and were clearly not comfortable. Instead of organising a reset of the scrum, Nick Walshe fed his pack and, after fiddling about for ages whilst trying to control the ball it popped out at the back giving referee Davey the option of declaring the ball was in "open play". Newcastle quickly took possession with Russell Winter steaming towards the Bath line, only to be stopped by a strong tackle from Nick Abendendon. However the Falcons were on the front foot and kept possession. Loki Crichton chipped between the gap in Bath's defence for Joe Shaw to score. The crowd was silenced and the thought of "Oh no here we go again" swept through the minds of 10,000 Bath fans.

However, within five minutes, Bath was back on top through Dave Ward's try. After soaking up another assault on their line the Bath backs swept out of defence and turned their opposition, who could only knock the ball in to touch close to their goal-line. The Bath lineout finally clicked and a catch and drive saw the whole front row dive across the Newcastle line with their young hooker clutching the ball. Another superb Barkley kick, this time from the touchline, saw Bath home.

Picture courtesy Jules

After total lineout failure last week the forwards appeared to have made some headway during the week in training and whilst Dave Ward struggled to hit his players on several occasions, regular disruption of the Falcon's lineout was an important factor in this victory. But this was to be the only weakness in Wards' game and his second half try was icing on the cake for the young lad. Ward is strong in the loose and the advantage of having, what is in effect, an extra flanker is clear for all to see. My feeling is Ward should be above Rob Hawkins in the pecking order, he just needs to work on his lineout throws.

Despite controlling the ball for much of the game Bath had to repel several strong goal-line attacks by the visitors and they demonstrated strength and determination that has been missing for much of the season. In particular Shaun Berne and Eliota were very strong, looking to rip ball away from the opposing possessor instead of just tackling. However it is frustrating when the back three constantly pick up the ball in plenty of space and under no pressure yet choose to pass it inside for a clearance kick instead of making ground before kicking forward. This keeps their forwards forever on the back foot and quickly gives away possession. We should be dictating the game not relying on counter attacks!

We also need to resist the urge to grab the ball at opponents rucks as this tends to infuriate referees these days. On one occasion Shaun Berne punted a beautiful kick within 10 metres of the Newcastle goal-line to give the defenders a throw. Instead of letting Newcastle clear their lines, which would give us a lineout almost in the same position, our forwards tried to disrupt the clearance and gave away a penalty. 

Referee Davey was very fussy for much of the game and clearly frustrated both players and spectators with his decision making. On one occasion Bath stole a march at a Newcastle scrum and were setting up an attack with an advantage of player numbers only for Davey to blow his whistle and award a scrum to....Bath! Andy Beattie, along with thousands in the stands, jumped with rage at this decision. It's such narrow margins upon which games can be won and lost and referees would do well to wait a few seconds before blowing their whistle. Let's face it, rugby is a game that can be returned to an original decision if advantage is not taken but once that whistle is blown it cannot be unblown!

After being in a foul mood after last week's display I left this game feeling progress had been made - mind you four Premiership points helps!

Referee: Sean Davey

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