Bath returned to the summit of the Prem, ruthlessly exposing the gulf between top and bottom at Kingston Park. Despite resting several front-liners, including Finn Russell, they ran in eight tries against Newcastle to bounce back emphatically from last week’s Champions Cup defeat in Toulon.

They simply had too much firepower for Newcastle who were shut out for the last 53 minutes of the game.

If there was a disparity between the starting lineups, the bench mis-match was colossal and Bath’s head coach, Johann van Graan, rubbed it in by introducing all eight of his replacements in one fell swoop with 25 minutes to go.

It was a shock and awe move with Sam Underhill, Ted Hill and Thomas du Toit emerging from the fog and Bath, leading 33-14 at the time, eased away with three more fine tries to reach their half-century.

“I’ve done seven before but it’s the first time I’ve done all eight,” said Van Graan. “Newcastle have come back in a few games if you look at the previous few weeks and once we got 12 up, I knew that if we put them away then, that was the end of the game.

“There’s no perfect science in it, but I thought it worked well on the day.

Fifty points away from home, topping the league at Christmas, I would have taken that before the game.”

For Newcastle the wait for liftoff after the Red Bull takeover in the summer continues.

Successive Challenge Cup victories in Europe hinted at a corner being turned but this was their 19th consecutive league defeat, stretching back to 29 November last year, and a bruisingly heavy one in their own backyard.

They are no longer short of money but the business of buying in talent is not straightforward. The big movers at present, such as George Martin, are choosing more established top-end clubs.

Another sellout crowd at Kingston Park demonstrated the enthusiasm for the revolution amongst the north-east public. When it begins to bear fruit, Newcastle are going to need a bigger ground.

And the sense is that they will get there in the end – it is inconceivable they won’t with the backing they now enjoy – but it is proving not to be a case of simply waving a wand.

Newcastle held the lead after half an hour with tries from flanker Ollie Leatherbarrow and No 8 Amanaki Mafi. But Bath had already flexed their forward muscle by then through two tries from hooker Dan Frost and once prop Archie Griffin had thundered his way over from close range to open up a 19-14 interval lead, Bath pulled away. Francois van Wyk secured an all-front-row bonus point three minutes after the break.

Then, with Newcastle shorthanded by the loss of centre Sammy Arnold to the sin-bin for ball-killing. Will Butt crossed for Bath’s fifth.

The visitors’ heavy mob, plus captain Ben Spencer, rumbled on and pushed the champions out of sight. Tom de Glanville went over in the corner with 13 minutes to go from a lovely pass by Spencer and two minutes later the England scrum-half finished off a flowing length-of-the-field breakout.

It was the try of the game from an impressive Bath who added an eighth in the last minute through Hill.

“They’ve got some world-class players within their squad and they’ve got a quality bench. They were very clinical in the second half,” said the Newcastle head coach, Alan Dickens.

“It’s certainly frustrating off the back of what we thought was a good first half.”

Entertainment is the name of the matchday experience at Newcastle under the new owners and the Christmas tunes were trotted out during breaks in play to keep morale up, but for all the seasonal spirit they remain pointless this season.