Bath moved back to the top of the Allied Dunbar Premiership, after running in five tries against Newcastle.

Jon Callard, deputising at full-back for injured Matt Perry, contributed 25 points as Bath romped to victory.

Va'aiga Tuigamala gave the visitors a perfect start as he went over for the opening try after just 57 seconds.

But Callard soon put Bath in front and despite another try from Tuigamala in the second-half it was not enough.

'Unacceptable'

Newcastle director of rugby Rob Andrew described his team's performance as "totally unacceptable".

Bath's Phil de Glanville is tackled by Va'aiga Tuigamala

Andrew, who must now pick his players up for a tricky European Shield match at Narbonne next Saturday, said: "That sort of performance is not what we are about.

"OK, we've had a difficult start to the season, everyone knows that, but we have all our internationals back now and we played well in the last couple of games.

"The players have got to realise it's just not good enough at this level. It's a tough environment especially away from home. You have to play so much better to get anything. Today we got exactly what we deserved."

Callard leads from behind

Callard soon nosed Bath in front with two penalties, despite Tuigamala's early try, before a floated pass by Catt put Iain Balshaw in for a try on 19 minutes. Although Callard missed a conversion, a third penalty saw Bath turn around 14-5 in front.

On 52 minutes Callard claimed his try, backing up a powerful run by left-wing Kevin Maggs and converting.

Ben Clarke took a long pass from Gareth Cooper to claim the next just six minutes later, but the score was not without its cost as de Glanville went off with a leg injury after setting up the score.

Callard's kicks helped Bath stretch away to a 31-5 lead before a powerful run on the blind side gave Tuigamala a well deserved try on 66 minutes. Dave Walder converted.

But Maggs squeezed in at the corner for Bath five minutes later, and Clarke followed up a rampaging run by Ben Sturnham to score the fifth.