The verdict on the Finn Russell Bath debut

Bath’s head of rugby Johann van Graan was pleased with Finn Russell’s debut performance in the 34-26 victory over Newcastle Falcons at the Recreation Ground.

The Scotland and British & Irish Lions fly-half, Bath’s eye-catching summer signing, came on as a first-half replacement but it was skipper Ben Spencer who was the star of the show with a hat-trick of tries.

The home side touched down six times in all, the other tries going to Alfie Barbeary, Cameron Redpath and Will Muir, while Spencer also landed two conversions.

Newcastle caused the home side no end of trouble at the breakdown and scored three tries through Matias Orlando, Ben Stevenson and Jamie Blamire.

Reflecting on Russell’s first appearance in a Bath shirt, van Graan said: “It came earlier than he anticipated and we had to adapt, moving Orlando Bailey to inside centre.

“I thought he was calm – a very solid first performance.”

Van Graan also acknowledged the leadership of Spencer, adding: “I thought he did very well.

“He was good with his kicking game too, giving us field position and accuracy. It was nice for him to score three tries too. His last try was a very special one, very good skill execution.”

Van Graan continued: “There’s no easy team in this league. It was a tough battle and Newcastle stuck it out.

“I thought we had some, let’s call them ‘soft moments’, in our own 22 but once we got that ruck set Ben got us up to the half-way line.

“Not a lot of nines in world rugby can do that. He does it with both feet. It was a good performance, a good start for us.

“We found a different way to win. It’s the first game of the season – we play for points now. Newcastle didn’t go away. They kept at it for the 80 minutes.”

Newcastle head coach Alex Codling admitted there were plenty of positives from his side.

He said: “There was a lot to be proud of. I loved our mind-set to attack, our courage and tenacity, and I thought the game swung on a couple of key incidents.

“One of those was when we thought we had scored, and on another day we get that decision, and then we concede a try quickly after to make it a 14-point swing.

“To a man, the lads showed huge desire. They stuck to the plan and ultimately I’m disappointed and sad for them that they weren’t rewarded with the result.

“I also want to thank the supporters who made the trip all the way down here because they were brilliant in getting behind the team.”

Facing a six-day turnaround before taking on Gloucester, Codling added: “We feel like we deserved something from the game but we didn’t get it so we’ll just have to make sure on Friday against Gloucester we convert all that good work into a result.

“I take loads of positives from the day and the biggest challenge is executing our chances. There were loads of good learning points and I’m really enthused by the effort and ambition of the boys.

“Having two yellow cards is always going to make things tough but I loved our intent to play. On a couple of occasions we perhaps forced one pass too many but I can’t fault the lads too much.”