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Falcons do the Bath double

The Falcons had three tries by half-time and held on to leapfrog their opponents in the table and extend their winning run at home to six games in all competitions.

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Sinoti Sinoti went over in the left corner early on to kick off proceedings after superb work in the build-up from Josh Matavesi to release him.

Toby Flood curled over the extras while up the other end Freddie Burns – who limped off injured late on – missed with a long-range penalty.

And the Falcons doubled their lead inside a quarter of an hour when Flood dummied and broke through and showed just enough pace to get to the line.

He added his own extras and the Falcons were 14-0 to the good and Bath were yet to really fire a shot.

Aled Brew’s yellow card for a late challenge on a prone Michael Young did not help the visitors’ cause and not long after the Falcons had a third, Kyle Cooper going over at the back of a rolling maul.

21-0 down at the interval, Todd Blackadder’s side needed a response and it duly arrived when restored to their full complement.

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Burns spread the ball left and James Wilson found a great offload to release Cooper Vuna, and the debutant produced a fantastic finish in the corner.

Burns added the extras and at 21-7 the visitors had a sniff but that was ended not long after, Vereniki Goneva charging through down the right for the bonus-point score – his ninth in the league this season.

And in the final quarter Bath huffed and puffed while a Flood penalty extended the lead to 29-7. The final play of the game saw Anthony Perenise rumble over but by then the damage was done.

The scorers:

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For Newcastle Falcons:

Tries: Sinoti, Flood, Cooper, Goneva

Cons: Flood 3

Pen: Flood

For Bath:

Tries: Vuna, Perenise

Con: Burns

Yellow card: Aled Brew (Bath, 34)

Teams:

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Alex Tait, 14 Vereniki Goneva, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Sinoti Sinoti, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Michael Young (captain), 8 Ally Hogg, 7 Nili Latu, 6 Evan Olmstead, 5 Will Witty, 4 Calum Green, 3 Jon Welsh, 2 Kyle Cooper, 1 Rob Vickers

Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Sam Lockwood, 18 Trevor Davison, 19 Ryan Burrows, 20 Callum Chick, 21 Sonatane Takulua, 22 Joel Hodgson, 23 Maxime Mermoz

Bath: 15 James Wilson, 14 Aled Brew, 13 Will Hurrell, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Cooper Vuna, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Kahn Fotuali’i, 8 Zach Mercer, 7 Paul Grant, 6 Matt Garvey (captain), 5 Elliott Stooke, 4 James Phillips, 3 Max Lahiff, 2 Ross Batty, 1 Lucas Noguera

Replacements: 16 Nathan Charles, 17 Beno Obano, 18 Anthony Perenise, 19 Levi Douglas, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Josh Lewis, 23 Jeff Williams

Referee: Matthew Carley

Assistant referees: Craig Maxwell-Keys & Peter Allan.

TMO: Keith Lewis.

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