Olly Barkley may be surplus to England requirements until his court case issues are resolved, but, even though he is Gloucester-bound next season, he is delivering for Bath, and helped to maintain their push for a playoff place by shaping this comfortable victory over Newcastle. Playing at fly-half, he was on target with five out of his six kicks at goal, and provided much of the spark in a match that overall failed to catch alight, but in which Bath were worthy victors.

The home outfit displayed by far the greater sense of adventure and ambition - although that was not difficult, because Newcastle had none. Matters were not helped by a steady second-half downpour, but there is a sense that when they are deprived of their England back-line trio of Jonny Wilkinson, Toby Flood and Mathew Tait, Newcastle are stuck in second gear. Yet, with a pack including Carl Hayman, you would think that they could build around the New Zealander enough to make them a pretty uncomfortable proposition in a forward set-to.

However, Hayman was eerily quiet, and although the Newcastle pack did eventually make a contribution, with replacement No 8 Russell Winter touching down a last-minute pushover try, it was no more than a token, because Bath were out of sight thanks to Barkley, whose three second-half penalties to Tom May’s one proved decisive in building on a 13-3 half-time lead.

In failing to turn the forward screw on a Bath pack depleted by England call-ups, Newcastle gave Barkley enough leeway to dictate the pace, and Bath should have wrapped this up by finishing off two clear-cut second-half scoring opportunities. The first came when Barkley cut through to send Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu clear 15 minutes from time, only to be scythed down by Tom Dillon, who, along with Lee Dickson, tackled superbly. It was Dickson who finally halted a Tom Cheeseman charge for the line a few minutes later.

Newcastle were first on the scoreboard thanks to a Tom May penalty after a scrum collapse, with Bath’s Duncan Bell, who was facing Hayman, deemed the culprit. Bell is a tighthead prop who was pressed into service at loosehead due to David Barnes suffering a fractured cheekbone in last week’s win over Bristol - an incident which has set a new precedent, with footage from YouTube deemed by the RFU to be admissable in citing Bristol’s veteran lock Gareth Llewellyn for an off-the-ball incident.

Any supporters with hand-held cameras in the crowd at The Rec yesterday would have found them redundant, such was the lack of drama. A Barkley penalty put Bath back on level terms, and the home side made their advantage in possession and territory pay midway through the half when they exploited an injury to Steve Jones, the Newcastle fly-half.

With James Grindal, a scrum-half, on temporarily for Jones, Bath spotted a weak defensive link and attacked it immediately from a scrum, with Barkley linking with Shaun Berne, who slipped a short pass for Alex Crockett to burst through 30 metres out to score, Barkley converting for a 10-3 lead.

However, with Bath tending to overelaborate, and Newcastle defending doggedly, the rest of the half had stalemate written all over it. It took Newcastle half an hour to enter the Bath 22, from a John Rudd charge, but Bath had the last say when Berne kicked a penalty just before the interval to give them their half-time lead.

It was one they never looked like relinquishing, because Newcastle had neither the power or, the belief, to win this one.

Star man: Olly Barkley(Bath)

Bath:J Maddock (E Fuimaono-Sapolu 49min); M Stephenson, A Crockett (capt), S Berne, A Higgins (T Cheeseman 18min); O Barkley, M Claassens (M Baxter 73min); D Bell (A Jarvis 65min), P Dixon, A Jarvis (P Ion 40min), P Short, D Grewcock (M Burdy 66min), C Goodman, D Browne (Z Feau’nati 73min), J Faamatuainu.

Newcastle:T May; O Phillips (T Visser 71min), T Dillon, A Tait (J Shaw 58min), J Rudd; S Jones (J Grindal 18-24, 37min), L Dickson; J Golding (J McDonnell 52min), M Thompson (R Vickers 69min), C Hayman, G Parling (T Swinson 62min), M Sorenson, B Wilson (R Winter 62min), P Dowson (capt), B Woods. Try: Crocket 20 Con: Barkley. Pens: Barkley (4), Berne

Try: Winter 79 Pens: May (2)

Referee: A Rowden (RFU). Attendance: 10,600