Written by Matt Brown
@shutterstock / BBCSPORT
Bath secured a comprehensive 50–14 victory away to Newcastle Red Bull at Kingston Park. The reigning champions were under early pressure from Newcastle, and it was the basement club that took a deserved lead when flanker Ollie Leatherbarrow dove over the line within the opening four minutes.
Unfortunately for the hosts, their lead was short-lived. Bath hooker Dan Frost crossed for two tries in the following 19 minutes, though questions remained regarding the second score and whether Frost had maintained control of the ball.
Newcastle refused to go down without a fight. Amanaki Mafi crashed over the line following a powerful driving maul, and Brett Connon added his second conversion of the day to restore the home side's lead. With the score at 14–12 as the game approached half-time, both sides fought to break the deadlock. With just under 10 minutes remaining in the half, prop Archie Griffin powered through contact to ground the ball for the visitors' third try.
Bath headed into the changing rooms with a slender lead following a frantic first 40 minutes. Given the narrow margin, one could imagine a tense atmosphere during the break; however, the champions emerged firing. It took just two minutes for Francois van Wyk to secure the bonus-point try as Bath began to turn the screw.
In the 52nd minute, Sammy Arnold was shown a yellow card by referee Hamish Smales. Bath immediately exploited the man advantage, with Will Butt crossing the line and Santi Carreras adding the extras to stretch the lead to 19 points. Shortly after, in the 54th minute, Bath emptied their bench, unleashing their equivalent of the Springboks' "Bomb Squad."
The replacements had a massive impact. Replacement scrum-half Ben Spencer delivered a spectacular pass wide for Tom de Glanville to score in the corner, before Spencer himself added a try that originated from within Bath’s own 22. The visitors weren't finished yet; Ted Hill scored from close range and Carreras converted to bring Bath to the half-century mark.
Johan van Graan’s men will sit top of the table at Christmas with 31 points as they hunt for back-to-back titles. Conversely, Newcastle remains rooted to the foot of the table with zero points from their opening seven games.
Up next, Bath welcomes Northampton Saints to The Rec. Things don’t get any easier for the Newcastle, who travel to Ashton Gate to face a Bristol Bears side fresh off a comfortable win against a dismal Harlequins at Allianz Stadium as part of Big Game 17.
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