Bates focuses on flawless finishing.

Byline: NICK PUREWAL

STEVE BATES has told his fluttering Falcons only flawless finishing will fly them to victory at Bath on Saturday.

Despite smashing sorry Frenchmen Albi 45-3 through running in seven unanswered tries at Kingston Park on Sunday, the Falcons still bungled a couple of scoring chances.

After Danny Williams, Laurence Ovens and Will Welch put the Falcons three scores to the good inside half an hour, rugby director Bates was expecting his side to secure the bonus-point score before the interval.

And while the one-way traffic handed the home side several opportunities, Bates' men failed to convert.

After the break they stepped up the pace a little, Alex Walker collecting Jimmy Gopperth's fine crossfield for the fifth-point score, before Tom Biggs, Gopperth and Charlie Amesbury wrapped up the rout.

The Frenchmen lived up to typecast billing by travelling with nothing but disinterest, but Bates was delighted his men finally turned over a side ripe for the picking.

But after all that the twoweek European Challenge Cup detour is over, and now comes a return to the home front Guinness Premiership action.

After five winless games but three frustrating draws, the Falcons' job hardly gets any easier with Saturday's visit to The Rec.

Expecting a fierce contest, Bates admitted that should his men throw away some opportunities like they did at the back end of Sunday's first half, they are likely to come up short.

Bates said: "You've just got to take your chances in the Premiership, there's no doubting that.

"Because if you let opportunities slip through your fingers then you will be punished.

"We've seen that in most of our league games so far where we had chances to win and let them go.

"Our conversion rate on Sunday was pretty good, but it still could have been better and the simple fact is that down at Bath if we repeat that level then it probably won't be enough.

"They haven't hit the heights they would have expected yet, but that does not detract from the fact that they are a very dangerous side if you let them play. "In an away game like that you've got to expect to come under a lot of pressure, and of course you have to soak that up and really go at them when the moments come your way.

"We might only get one or two scoring chances in the whole game, so we have to be ready when they come.

"Obviously we'll be vying with everything we've got to make many more than that, but we're wise to the fact that it isn't always as straightforward as that in the Premiership.

"I thought we performed pretty well against Albi and it was vital for us to get our game together and run in some tries.

"The tries were more important overall than the fact we stopped them scoring, because we've just needed a bit of extra attacking fluency for a while now and it was there on Sunday. "That's put a few smiles on faces but we've got to put that behind us now and step up another few levels before the weekend."

CAPTION(S):

CUTTING EDGE NEEDED: Jimmy Gopperth dives over to score against Albi, but Steve Bates wants his Falcons to be more clinical