Bath Rugby fly-half George Ford believes the club's new-look back-line have only just started to show their potential after another promising pre-season display against Ospreys.
Two weeks after they ran in 11 tries in a 69-5 thrashing of local rivals Bristol, Bath again looked exciting when running ball-in-hand as wingers Matt Banahan and Semesa Rokoduguni and full-back Ollie Devoto all touched down against the Welshmen on Friday night.
A jinking run from Ford created Bath's other try for back-rower Leroy Houston at The Rec, while new centre pairing Kyle Eastmond and Jonathan Joseph were also impressive.
With the back division seeming to have settled quickly, Ford hopes they can get even better once the Aviva Premiership gets under way in Friday's trip to Newcastle Falcons.
"It's about getting the balance right," said the 20-year-old, who arrived from Leicester Tigers this summer in a bid to secure more consistent game time.
"As a ten you want to put pressure on teams by kicking it and putting it in behind them but you've also got to keep hold of the ball sometimes and put pressure on that way.
"Kyle demands the ball from me and that's what you want from a 12 outside you, someone who is saying 'Come on give me the ball so I can go out and play.' I think we saw a couple of times with Kyle and JJ that it worked pretty well.
"I've loved every minute and I've settled in pretty quickly – the lads have been great. I've loved playing here at The Rec the couple of times I have done. The transition from Leicester has been pretty smooth, so I am really enjoying it.
"That was my third game in a row and it is nice to play a run of games. I'm not too used to that at the moment and am still trying to get up to speed with it all. I think the more we all play together and the more games we get under our belts, the better it will be."
Ford says Bath benefitted from a more expansive style in the second half against Ospreys. Despite dominating the forward battle at The Rec in the first 40 minutes, the home side still found themselves 10-8 down.
Once the backs were able to get their hands on the ball, however, the Welshmen struggled to live with Bath's attacking flare.
"It was pretty frustrating in the first half and we felt that, certainly up front, we had dominance but struggled to get any ball out of the set-piece," said Ford.
"It's the mindset of the forwards and if they are on the front foot and dominant, then you struggle to get the ball off them.
"You have to have a quiet word with a few of the leaders in the pack and say 'Look, we're getting nothing, can we have the ball a bit earlier please?' If you ask them nicely then tend to give it to you.
"Being two points down going into half-time wasn't too bad a result even though we probably should have taken a few more of the chances we created.
"I thought the second half was hugely positive. We had the confidence to go out and play a lot more, exploit space and keep the ball in hand, and we ended up scoring a few tries."
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