Bath caught cold by Falcons

Struggling Bath suffered a sixth defeat in eight matches as they let slip another half-time lead to go down 27-16 at home to Newcastle.

Charlie Amesbury scored two tries as the Falcons battled back from 10-7 down at The Rec to clinch their first Guinness Premiership win this season.

While the visitors celebrated breaking their duck, Bath were left to look back on yet another match that had slipped from their grasp - this coming just six days after a last-minute loss to Stade Francais in the Heineken Cup.

In the end, they didn't even manage the consolation of a losing bonus point, leaving them with just one league win in six outings so far.

Knock-on-a-thon

Perhaps still feeling the effects of their European heartbreak, Bath were slow to get going in an opening quarter that was ruined by countless knock-ons.

Graham Rowntree was still a keen spectator, England's scrummaging coach casting an eye over the Bath trio of David Flatman, Duncan Bell and David Barnes, who started the afternoon on the bench.

Flatman must have caught the former prop's eye with his involvement in setting up a ruck that led to the deficit finally being broken in the 24th minute.

Newcastle were forced to give away a penalty that Nicky Little knocked over and almost from the re-start Bath conjured up the opening try.

After turning the ball over on the visitors' 22, hooker Pieter Dixon fired out a pass that led to Matt Carraro scoring, the centre just getting in at the corner.

Having seen Jimmy Gopperth miss two penalty attempts, the Falcons eventually got on the board when Amesbury somehow wriggled out of a tackle to get his first try of the afternoon just before half time.

With the conversion going over Newcastle were within touching distance and they seized control of the contest with 15 points in the space of 10 second-half minutes.

Scoring spree

Their mini scoring spree came, though, after Michael Claasens had touched down for Bath, the captain's effort being the final act in a move that had begun with a superb counter-attack from deep by full-back Nick Abendanon.

However, James Hudson responded with a try for Newcastle within three minutes before the key moment came - Micky Young picking off a wayward pass and running it back 80 metres to dive over the try-line.

The try sucked the life out of Bath, who were condemned to another loss by two telling contributions from the boot of Gopperth.

The New Zealand fly-half firstly popped over a penalty before producing a delightful grubber that set up Amesbury for a try that sealed a welcome five-point haul for the Falcons.