Battling Bath sink Falcons

Bath gave their Guinness Premiership play-off hopes a massive boost with a spirited 15-14 comeback win over Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park.

Trailing 14-0 at half-time, Bath head coach Steve Meehan replaced the mis-firing Butch James and the visitors ran in two tries to ensure Newcastle's final home league fixture of the season ended in defeat.

Influential scrum-half Michael Claassens and Shontayne Hape crossed over in the space of five second half minutes after Danny Williams and Micky Young had put the home side in command.

Bath would have been out of sight had James and replacement Ryan Davis not spurned four penalty kicks between them, however they battled back admirably to seal a precious victory.

Home delight

Newcastle went into the match attempting to record their fifth successive domestic home victory and keep their slim Heineken Cup qualification hopes alive.

And the home side started the better - Bath penalised in the sixth minute for an infringement in the scrum, however Tom May's penalty attempt drifted wide.

Newcastle quickly put that disappointment behind them and opened the scoring courtesy of a superb break and assist from Young.

The Falcons scrum-half gathered his own kick inside the Bath 22 before deftly chipping the ball through to Williams on the right wing and he crashed over to the delight of the home fans.

May added the extras and despite conceding a penalty immediately after the restart, James missed the straightforward chance to keep Falcons' seven-point lead in tact.

James' kicking woes continued when he missed an even easier opportunity minutes later, and when Bath won another penalty within kicking range soon after, the South African opted for touch rather than the posts.

Newcastle full-back Alex Tait had a try ruled out seven minutes before half-time after receiving a forward pass, however there was no denying the Falcons two minutes later.

After creating the opening try, the impressive Young showed more superb ingenuity when a quick tap-kick enabled him to burst through the static Bath defence to cross for his first ever Guinness Premiership try.

Kicking woe

May's conversion put the hosts 14-0 ahead and left Bath boss Meehan with a difficult team-talk at the break.

The Australian's response was to replace James with Davis - a move which failed to improve Bath's immediate penalty success as he squandered two chances inside the opening eight minutes of the second half.

With four penalties now missed Bath knew they must alter their plan of attack with tries now seemingly their only hope of getting back into the match.

And, after a prolonged spell of territorial dominance, Claassens managed to squeeze his way over the line after a quick tap-kick caught the Falcons defence flat-footed.

Bath's kicking woes continued with Davis' missed conversion, however Hape's well-finished try in the right corner brought Bath within four points of Newcastle with 16 minutes remaining.

Remarkably, Davis fired over the hardest kick of the afternoon from the right touchline to take the score to 14-12 and with the momentum behind them Bath sensed a comeback win.

And when Falcons lock Mark Sorenson was caught offside minutes later, Davis reversed Bath's kicking nightmare to put the visitors ahead for the first time in the match.

May had a chance to put Newcastle back in front but his late penalty was well off target and Bath held on to a win which takes them above Sale and back into the play-off places.