By Leipziger
September 4 2011

Well, we were promised a new style of play. Nobody mentioned that it would be a return to the “If in doubt kick, if not in doubt kick, and only if you're in serious doubt should you even consider chasing” rubbish so beloved by Steve Bates though.

Has The Master been snuck back in through the side door while we weren't looking?

I doubt that when James Hudson was having a post-match chat with Paul Moriarty on the pitch at The Rec back in May he was saying “We need to kick it more and let the opposition run at us”.

I hope Alan Tait has realised our lack of imagination how easy we made things for Bath in the second half, until the last 10 minutes when we were stuck on their 22 with seemingly no way to make any further progress bar Tom Catterick being tackled inches from the line, is not going to bring in crowds nor get us as high up the league as I don't doubt he wants us to be.

Jamie Helleur, Greg Goosen, Ashley Wells and eventual man of the match Richard Mayhew made their competitive debuts for the Falcons from the start, though Jordi Pasqualin and Dan Frazier had to be content with places on the bench.

Bath opened the scoring in a competitive first half through Matt Carraro, his marker inexplicably leaving a gap in the defence by drifting towards an already-covered runner, allowing the winger an easy try under the posts. Jimmy Gopperth cut the deficit with a penalty, one of few we were given as referee Martin Fox seemed intent on allowing the visitors to tackle around the neck with impunity.

Sam Vesty's drop-goal restored his team's seven-point lead, and he exchanged further penalties with Gopperth to leave the score at 9-13. The Falcons broke and roared on by an otherwise-subdued 3,650 in Kingston Park, Andrew van der Heijden was one of those who almost forced his way over the try-line, but in the end the play was brought back for a penalty in front of the posts, which Gopperth easily scored.

The second half was predictable, Bath scoring an early penalty and preventing the Falcons from getting any real attacks together. Two more Vesty penalties meant we needed a converted try just for a bonus point. Replacement Catterick almost scored in the far right corner but was tackled into touch close to the line, and the chance went begging.

So as we wake up this morning we are bottom of the Premiership as the only team that has played not to register a point yet. Lovely.

The most frustrating thing is that we have so many good players and yet they turn out and produce dross like that. Is it rocket science to realise that dropping a kick-off 10 metres shorter but potentially winning the ball is better than being 10 metres closer to the line but with the opposition having the ball, probably with no opponent near him?

Is it the equivalent of brain surgery to think that even if you must kick to the opposition back three, they are more likely to make a mistake if you put pressure on them, reduce their options and give them less time to think?

Maybe I'm wrong and neither of these things would help.

One thing I believe I am right about though is that if yesterday is what the management think is going to get us up to even 9^th in the table come May, they need a serious rethink.

On the positive side, those who were going to go to Exeter but will now not be are probably not so annoyed by that now.