Bath loss is wake-up call - Bates

Falcons played their part in a bruising encounter at the Rec

Newcastle director of rugby Steve Bates hopes Saturday's 36-25 defeat by Bath will hit home to his players that they cannot relax until the season is over.

Having secured their Premiership safety, Falcons hold faint hopes of a Heineken Cup place and Bates has called on his squad to battle to the last.

"This is a bit of a wake-up call in terms of saying 'We haven't cracked it," he told BBC Radio Newcastle.

"We've still got to work hard, keep concentration and do the basics right."

Saturday's defeat ended Falcons' five match winning run that stretched back to the defeat of Bristol in February.

And Bates believes his side has shown considerable improvement in all areas in that time, particularly in the attack, an area where Falcons had been criticised earlier in the season.

"We scored three good tries and to come down here and do that against a Bath side that has played some very good rugby this season I'm actually quite pleased about that," he said.

"We've got Leicester on Friday night and we've just got to keep positive.

"I'm not happy that we lost, but I think we did enough to make it closer at the end and if the game had been closer then we might have sneaked it.

"This isn't something to get massively concerned about, we've just got to learn some lessons from it."