Falcons sink Bath to climb off bottom

There were Premiership wins for Newcastle Falcons and Worcester Warriors on Friday, with the former moving off the foot of the table.

Newcastle Falcons climbed off the foot of the Premiership table with a hard-fought 16-8 win over Bath on Friday, while Worcester Warriors beat Harlequins 20-13.

Bath lost Freddie Burns and Tom Homer to early injuries, but nevertheless edged ahead at Kingston Park when Ruaridh McConnochie crossed following an early penalty from veteran Newcastle fly-half Toby Flood.

However, the hosts soon responded through a converted Johnny Williams score and Flood added two further three-pointers in the second half after Bath's Josh Bayliss had been yellow-carded.

Newcastle duly held on to claim only their second win of the season, taking them above Sale Sharks and Bristol Bears ahead of Saturday's matches.

In Friday's other contest, tries from Nick Schonert and Ryan Mills helped Worcester climb above Bath and up to sixth.

Opponents Harlequins were left to rue three missed penalties, two from Marcus Smith and one from James Lang, as they were beaten despite Joe Marchant going over in the second half.