Bath win at Newcastle to stay top of Premiership

Finn Russell (bottom left) scored 15 points in total for Bath in a terrific display

Gallagher Premiership

Newcastle (15) 15

Tries: Blamire, Lockwood Con: Connon Pen: Connon

Bath (21) 40

Tries: Barbeary, De Glanville, W. Stuart, Ewels, Russell, Underhill Cons: Russell 5

Bath continued their excellent start to the season with a six-try victory over a stubborn Newcastle Falcons side which kept them top of the Premiership.

The visitors' tries were shared between Alfie Barbeary, Tom De Glanville, Will Stuart, Charlie Ewels, Finn Russell and Sam Underhill earning them the bonus-point win which maintained their lead over second-placed rivals Bristol.

Falcons fared well throughout, but first-half tries from Jamie Blamire and Freddie Lockwood proved mere consolation for Steve Diamond's side.

Bath stay above Bristol by virtue of their seven wins to Bears' six, while Newcastle stay second-bottom.

The match at a blustery Kingston Park got off to a frantic start.

Inside the first minute Bath's Joe Cokanasiga dropped a high ball to allow Blamire in and following some excellent footwork, the Falcons hooker dived over.

The wind meant the ball blew off the tee meaning Brett Connon missed his conversation attempt.

Two minutes later, Bath were in front when Barbeary scored to the right of the posts following a pick and go and Russell converted.

In an error ridden first half, the hosts re-took the lead when Lockwood saw the opportunity from the back of a ruck to dive over expertly.

Midway through the first half Bath went ahead once again.

Russell found team-mate Will Muir with a delicate kick and although the centre got his touch all wrong, the ball found itself to full-back De Glanville who had the simplest of tasks to touch down.

After a penalty from Connon nudged Falcons in front for a third time, Bath began to dominate.

Following a sustained period of pressure, Stuart eventually dived over after 23 phases underneath the sticks to give the visitors a 21-15 lead at half-time.

Difficult conditions in Newcastle meant extra help was needed during conversion attempts

Fantastic individual work from Ewels seven minutes into the second half saw him spin through three challenges to score Bath's fourth try and Russell's superb conversion from near touch put the visitors 13 points clear.

Falcons did not let their heads drop and had a third try but incredible scrambling defence from Bath on their own try line kept them at bay.

The visitors did not look back from that moment on and with 14 minutes left scored a fifth try when Russell dummied through a challenge to dive over.

A wonderful run from Ollie Lawrence then saw him run clear but the Bath centre was unable to finish off the move under pressure from Falcons' recovering defence.

With less than a minute to play, replacement Underhill then found room to dive over and score Bath's sixth and final try to ensure they remain top at Christmas.

Newcastle Falcons director of rugby Steve Diamond told BBC Radio Newcastle:

"We dragged them into a fight in the first half and they showed their superiority five metres out from the line.

"They were physically bigger than us and we couldn't withstand those pick and gos so, not really frustrated, we were beaten by the better side on the night.

"Everyone knows where we're at, we come across the big clubs who've got 70 [players] in the squad and do a remarkable job fitting all those players in the salary cap - we're going to struggle against some teams."

Bath and ex-Newcastle flanker Guy Pepper told BBC Radio Bristol:

"We're obviously on our own journey and being at Christmas, top of the table, is something we want to strive to so it was another step in the right direction."

On the difficult conditions at Kingston Park:

"We actually didn't run one of our moves from our line-out today so it completely changed the way we wanted to play the game and, to be fair to Falcons, completely changed the way they want to play so it's an equal playing field."

Newcastle: Redshaw; Radwan, Hearle, Hutchison, Stevenson; Connon, S. Stuart; McCallum, Blamire, Palframan, De Chaves, McDonald, Lockwood, Gordon, Chick (c).

Replacements: Fletcher, Rewcastle, Hancock, Van der Walt, Leatherbarrow, O'Sullivan, Wilkinson, O. Spencer.

Bath: De Glanville; Cokanasiga, Lawrence, Redpath, Muir; Russell, B. Spencer (c); Van Wyk, Dunn, W. Stuart, Roux, Ewels, Bayliss, Pepper, Barbeary.

Replacements: Annett, Obano, Du Toit, Hill, Underhill, Carr-Smith, Butt, Coetzee.

Referee: Ian Tempest.