LAST season’s top try-scorer at the Rec, Horacio Agulla is hoping an overdue score last weekend can help ignite his stop-start season.

The utility back dotted down six times in last year’s Aviva Premiership campaign but injury and international duty with Argentina ensured he didn’t make his seasonal bow until November this time around.

The 29-year-old returned to Aviva Premiership action with a bang, scoring against Worcester Warriors, but it took until Saturday for him to add to that.

Named on the bench for Newcastle Falcons’ visit, injury to Nick Abendanon saw Agulla thrown into action after just ten minutes – and he did not disappoint.

“With a squad like this, with so much competition, every time you have your opportunity you have to perform well,” said Agulla. “You never have too many opportunities.

“You always have to be ready and have your mind ready for everything. I am not very happy that Bendy got injured but I was pleased that I could get on the pitch.

“It was a little bit tougher for me to get into the team (this season). There is a lot of competition and very good players here but those things push you to perform better.

“It would be lovely (to score more tries) this year – I haven’t played as much as I did last year. Hopefully I will have some game time, scoring tries and enjoying the rugby here.”

But the try itself, which resulted from a piece of George Ford magic, was nothing to write home about, according to the Argentina international.

“I think that the try was a consequence of how good the team was playing at the time,” he said. “I just had to run and score.

“After George doing what he knows best, he passed me the ball and I scored.”

Despite Bath’s 24-6 win injuries dampened the joy, as Abendanon and Rob Webber each limped off following Carl Fearns’ injury in the warm-up.

However, Agulla expects the squad to cope with a string of set-backs – and captain Stuart Hooper’s new contract this week has provided a boost.

“He is our leader, he is our captain and it is great news for him and for us as well to have him next season,” he added. “It is very important for us. You want to keep those guys in the squad.

“What I am very pleased with is how the team reacts when we get injuries. Sometimes the team drops down but I think the team stepped up and showed a lot of character.”

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