NEWCASTLE FALCONS director of rugby Dean Richards insisted there was no disgrace in losing 24-6 at Bath – claiming his side have almost cracked how to play in the Aviva Premiership.

It is more than four years since the Falcons last won at the Rec and they never looked like ending that run despite leading 6-3 shortly after the interval.

A moment of class from George Ford got Bath’s noses back in front and they went on to win comfortably with second- half tries from Horacio Agulla, Leroy Houston and Francois Louw at the death.

There was no doubt the scoreline was harsh on the Falcons and while Richards accepted the better side won, he believes they’re improving.

“I thought we were hugely competitive all day long and they’ll go away thinking they haven’t had an easy game at all,” he said.

“The scoreline certainly flatters Bath but they created more chances than we did in the second half.

“We probably created more than them in the first half.

Overall, they certainly got the better of us. We conceded too many early tries in the second half which meant we were left chasing the game.

“We made a couple of changes up front but we didn’t get the parity in the first phase that we wanted.

“The reason we conceded the first try was that we missed touch from the penalty, which should have been our lineout. It’s the accuracy and the execution, isn’t it? I thought at times we were a little inaccurate.”

It was a poor first half with a strong wind making it extremely hard for the kickers.

Newcastle were penalised for going off their feet but Ford was unable to make them pay, his penalty fading to the right of the posts – the first of two successive misses.

When Will Welch knocked on a Scott MacLeod pass in front of the posts, handing Bath a dangerous scrum, the Falcons pack were pinged again for boring in and at the third attempt Ford found the uprights to make it 3-0 on 17 minutes. It was no more than Bath deserved, having played the first quarter in Newcastle’s half.

There was little between the sides – barring another missed Ford penalty – until five minutes from the break when Bath went offside in their own half and Falcons No.10 Phil Godman made no mistake to level things up against the run of play.

Newcastle went in a man down after Oliver Tomaszczyk was sent to the sin bin, the fall guy for persistent infringement from the Newcastle players.

But despite the disadvantage Newcastle took the lead upon the restart, Godman with another penalty after Watson was penalised for holding on in the tackle.

It looked like this game would be decided by the smallest of margins but with the weather clearing Bath began to play more positive rugby, and they scored the first try of the game seven minutes into the second half.

Ford bamboozled the Newcastle defence with a delightful show and go before playing a gorgeous pass to Agulla to steam over the line.

The fly-half added the extras to give Bath a 10-6 advantage, and shortly afterwards it was 17-6 as Peter Stringer spun the ball wide from an attacking lineout with the ball going through the hands and ending with Houston who dived over the whitewash, Ford converting.

With Tomaszczyk back on the field Newcastle continued to defend and make life difficult for Bath but the introduction of Anthony Perenise to the Bath pack seemed to give the home side dominance up front.

Bath pushed for a third try with Perenise himself held up over the line, and Falcons persistence ensured it didn’t arrive until a few seconds before the final whistle.

It was Louw who got it, smuggling the ball over the line from close range with Ford converting to give the scoreline a healthy look for Bath.

“I’ve got to give credit to Newcastle, I thought they played well at times. At one point, when they were 6-3 up, they would have been licking their lips for a big scalp,” said Bath and former Newcastle coach Mike Ford.