Falcons Flood past Bath
PREMIERSHIP REPORT: Eleven points from the boot of Toby Flood on his 100th appearance for Newcastle Falcons helped them battle past Bath 16-8.
The visitors had led after Ruaridh McConnochie's try but went in down by five points at the break after a late score from Johnny Williams for Falcons at Kingston Park.
All the second half points came from the boot of the former England back, as the Falcons' defence held firm under pressure late on to ensure victory.
Newcastle flyhalf Flood got his centurion appearance for the club off to a solid start as he kicked a straightforward penalty to make it 3-0 after six minutes.
Freddie Burns was forced off for Bath early on after an injury, he was replaced at fly-half by Darren Atkins, before his teammate Tom Homer also departed due to a knock, with McConnochie coming on to replace him.
Bath opened their account through one of their replacements following some great defensive work from the forwards. Zach Mercer put in a big hit before skipper Matt Garvey turned it over.
There was quick ball down the left before a Cooper Vuna one-two with Jackson Willison helped released McConnochie to score.
Newcastle grabbed a try of their own just before the break from a set-play.
Back-rower John Hardie found scrum-half Sam Stuart who sent a flat miss-pass to Williams to canter over between Atkins and Jamie Roberts to touch down before Flood added the extras.
After the break Atkins added his first points of the night as he kicked a penalty to make it 10-8, closing the gap to just two points.
Youngster Josh Bayliss was sent to the sinbin after his tip tackle on Flood after 55 minutes.
The fly-half also kicked the resulting penalty to extend Falcons lead to 13-8.
The Englishman nudged another crucial penalty kick with 10 minutes to go, meaning Bath would need more than one score to get the win.
Todd Blackadder's men piled on the pressure late on but were unable to force the breakthrough they needed.
The scorers
For Newcastle Falcons:
Try: Williams
Con: Flood
Pens: Flood 3
For Bath:
Try: McConnochie
Pen: Atkins
Teams:
Newcastle Falcons: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Tom Arscott, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Sinoti Sinoti, 10 Toby Flood (captain), 9 Sam Stuart, 8 Nemani Nagusa, 7 John Hardie, 6 Gary Graham, 5 Glen Young, 4 Calum Green, 3 Jon Welsh, 2 Kyle Cooper, 1 Sam Lockwood
Replacements: 16 George McGuigan, 17 Adam Brocklebank, 18 David Wilson, 19 Andrew Davidson, 20 Ryan Burrows, 21 Michael Young, 22 Brett Connon, 23 Pedro Bettencourt
Bath: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jackson Willison, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Cooper Vuna, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Will Chudley, 8 Zach Mercer, 7 Josh Bayliss, 6 Tom Ellis, 5 Matt Garvey (captain), 4 Dave Attwood, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Nathan Catt
Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Jacques van Rooyen, 18 Max Lahiff, 19 Luke Charteris, 20 Levi Douglas, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Ruaridh McConnochie, 23 Darren Atkins
Referee: Christophe Ridley
Assistant referees: Wayne Falla & John Meredith.
TMO: Trevor Fisher.
Source: @premrugby