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Pat Lam believes that Bristol “sit nicely” in the Gallagher Premiership after they consolidated second place with a 55-35 victory over Newcastle at Ashton Gate.
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The Bristol rugby director, though, also insists there is plenty to work on before the Premiership starts up again post-Six Nations in March.
Bristol are six points behind leaders Bath after they ran in eight tries but bottom club Newcastle made them fight hard and the Falcons trailed by only three points after 72 minutes before a late scoring flurry.
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“The goal was five points today, but when I saw the (wet and windy) conditions I thought it would be hard to get five, so to score eight tries is a real plus. That’s the good side of it,” Lam said.
“At 21-0 up we got off to a real flyer, then we gave away a stupid penalty that slowed down the whole tempo and fair play to Newcastle, they came back.
“We balanced our kicking game at the beginning because of the conditions but once we were 21-0 up, why were we still kicking the ball? When we kicked the ball, they came at us and we gave penalties away.
“It was neck and neck and then we showed how lethal we can be when we focus and get little bits and pieces done right and we got away.
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“We sit nicely in second, and hopefully we will get a good run-in. We have lost games in the last minute and we have let games slip, so to still be in second place, when you consider this time last year we were in eighth place as we go into the break, we are happy.
“We need to get some work done and tidy up key moments of our game. We have just had these slips, and when we are not in it, we make silly mistakes, the whole team. Some of it is self-inflicted, so we have got to tidy a lot of that up.”
Wings Kalaveti Ravouvou and Noah Heward each scored two tries during a 90-point spectacular.
Fiji international wing Ravouvou and Heward struck in each half, yet Newcastle stayed in the contest for long periods just nine months after they lost 85-14 and shipped 13 tries on the same ground.
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Bristol looked as though they might run away with it after Ravouvou, hooker Gabriel Oghre and Heward touched down during the opening 18 minutes.
Ravouvou and Heward added their second touchdowns after the break and there were also scores for scrum-half Kieran Marmion, number eight Viliame Mata and replacement Deago Bailey, with Harry Byrne booting four conversions and a penalty, while Benhard Janse van Rensburg added two conversions.
Newcastle lie six points adrift at the Premiership basement but they could take plenty of encouragement from a performance that saw wing Ben Stevenson claim a try double, with centre Max Clark, hooker Jamie Blamire and captain Callum Chick also crossing. Brett Connon kicked five conversions.
Falcons’ consultant rugby director Steve Diamond said: “They were 21-0 up, then we effectively got off the bus and it was a close game up until the last 15 minutes when we got a yellow card and against a side like Bristol when you are one down in defence they proved what class they are.
“The pleasing thing was that we scored five tries and we were combative and we were in the scrap for a large part of the game.
“I am confident we have got a couple of wins in us, and it will be a great pressure game at Exeter at the end of March.”
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