Newcastle 24-22 Bath: Falcons fightback stuns Blackadder's men
Last Updated: 06/01/17 10:48pm
Newcastle scored two late tries as they overturned a 12-point deficit to beat Bath 24-22 in the Aviva Premiership.
Semesa Rokoduguni's second-half double put Bath 22-10 ahead at Kingston Park, but the Falcons roared back to score twice from close range through Calum Green and Ben Harris in the final eight minutes, with Joel Hodgson's conversions securing victory.
Bath had beaten Newcastle 58-5 in the reverse fixture and looked set for another win after Rokoduguni struck twice in the space of 10 minutes, but the Falcons bounced back in dramatic fashion.
The hosts were fast out of the blocks and scored the only try of the first half after just three minutes, with Vereniki Goneva picking up and going straight through the middle of the ruck to score, and Hodgson added the conversion.
Bath were off the pace in the first period and were not helped by England's George Ford missing two easy first-half penalties. He went on to miss another in the second half as well as a conversion.
Ford's side only managed three visits to the Falcons 22 but they did make the final one count as the fly-half kicked to the corner.
Newcastle defended the lineout drive but gave away a penalty, which Ford slotted.
Ford made up for his first-half misses just after the break when the ball broke loose from a ruck close to the Newcastle line and he cruised past Goneva for a try, which he then converted to make it 10-7.
Bath quickly added another seven points with Anthony Watson scything through and Rokoduguni somehow scrambling past Goneva to score in the corner. After confirmation from the TMO, Ford kicked the conversion from wide out in the 52nd minute.
Hodgson pulled three points back with a penalty just after the hour mark but Rokoduguni soon added his second try following a brilliant break by Jonathan Joseph.
It stayed 22-10 until the 72nd minute when Green crashed over and were unable to stop the fired-up Newcastle pack as Harris also touched down, allowing Hodgson to kick the winning points with three minutes left and move the Falcons up to sixth in the table.
