Premiership: Bath 58-5 Newcastle Falcons

Bath second-row Dave Atwood has 23 England caps

Bath ran in eight tries as they overpowered a poor Newcastle side in director of rugby Todd Blackadder's first home match in charge.

The hosts were 6-0 up when Falcons wing Vereniki Goneva was shown a yellow card for preventing a touchdown, for which Bath were awarded a penalty try.

That sparked another three tries in eight minutes as Bath secured a try bonus point before the break.

They added another four scores before Ally Hogg's late consolation try.

• RELIVE: Saturday's Premiership action as it happened

• REPORT: Leicester 22-34 Wasps

Dean Richards' Falcons side narrowly beat Sale in their season opener the week before, but this was their biggest defeat in 11 years as they struggled to deal with Bath's attacking play.

England winger Semesa Rokoduguni impressed throughout for Bath as he crossed twice, with lock Dave Atwood also going over for two tries.

Matt Banahan, Kahn Fotuali'i and Elliot Stooke scored their other tries as they made it two wins from two for Kiwi Blackadder since he replaced Mike Ford over the summer.

Newcastle, who finished 11th last season, did have a Joel Hodgson try ruled out for obstruction before Hogg dotted down out wide to prevent them finishing without any points.

Bath director of rugby Todd Blackadder: "I'm just so pleased for our players. It was fantastic.

"It was a great atmosphere. The support here is unbelievable. You just feel the passion and commitment to the team.

"When Semesa Rokoduguni saw the opportunities he really went for it. That inspired our guys. Dave Attwood was one of our best today, too.

"We'll celebrate and enjoy this tonight, a fantastic performance. It's great weather and the boys probably deserve a few quiet beers - and so they should."

Newcastle director of rugby Dean Richards: "George Ford was by far the best player on the field. He was outstanding.

"The penalty try changed the game entirely. The way we saw it, Niki Goneva was taken out but we haven't got all the angles the referee has.

"To capitulate in the way we did in the 10 minutes after that was poor from our point of view, the inability to react to it. So in that respect we've got to take it on the chin."

"We came down here on a bit of a high and got a wake-up call. Having said that, it's not going to be easy at home to Leicester next week."

Bath: Homer; Rokoduguni, Joseph, Clark, Banahan; Ford (c), Fotuali'i; Auterac, Batty, Palma-Newport, Charteris, Attwood, Ewels, Sisi, Mercer

Replacements: Dunn, Obano, Lahiff, Stooke, Douglas, Cook, Priestland, Williams

Newcastle: Hammersley; Goneva, Harris, Socino, Sinoti; Delany, Takulua; Rogers, Lawson, Welsh, Green, Witty, Olmstead, Welch (c), Wilson

Replacements: Sowrey, Lockwood, Ryan, Robinson, Hogg, Young, Hodgson, Waldouck