Saturday 29 December 2018 19:51, UK
Saracens were made to battle hard against Worcester while Sale shocked Gloucester and Harlequins saw off Wasps at Twickenham.
Harlequins held off a second-half fightback from Wasps to secure a 20-13 Gallagher Premiership win at Twickenham Stadium.
Paul Gustard's side took just 49 seconds to open the scoring when the in-form Alex Dombrandt finished in the corner after some smart lineout work from Dave Ward.
The try was the flanker's seventh in 10 appearances for Quins and the fastest of the Premiership season so far.
The hosts were dominating as Dombrandt had a second try chalked off for a dubious knock-on call earlier in the move only to then suffer a setback when hooker Dave Ward was shown a yellow card for some foul play.
A penalty by Marcus Smith, who had converted Dombrandt's try, extended the lead but Quins then came under sustained pressure and their resilience was rewarded with an intact try-line.
They could not prevent Elliot Daly landing a long-range penalty, however, and although Smith kicked another three points it was during the third quarter that the tide turned in Wasps' favour.
Replacement prop Will Stuart barged over from close range to reward the insurgency, but it was subdued in the 64th minute when Marchant touched down Danny Care's exquisite chip grubber.
It was then Lima Sopoaga's turn to boot a penalty that left Wasps only seven points adrift, but despite a sustained late assault they were unable to break through again.
Sale pulled off one of the shocks of the season with a comprehensive 30-15 defeat of third-placed Gloucester at a sold-out Kingsholm.
The ninth-placed club trailed 10-0 at the end of the first quarter before Sale scored 30 unanswered points as the home side had no answers to the ferocity and commitment of their opponents.
Sale tries came from Chris Ashton, Faf de Klerk, Rob Webber and Denny Solomona, with Robert du Preez adding two conversions and two penalties.
Jaco Visagie and Henry Walker scored tries for Gloucester with Billy Twelvetrees kicking a penalty and conversion.
Saracens returned to winning ways with a battling 25-17 triumph over a resilient Worcester Warriors despite trailing at half-time at Allianz Park.
Mark McCall's men shipped a pair of early scores to the energetic Warriors before tries from Calum Clark and David Strettle turned the tide after the break.
Capitalising on Exeter's shock defeat at Northampton Saints, Saracens went some way to repairing their defeat at Sandy Park last time out but stay second in the Gallagher Premiership behind the Chiefs.
Worcester shocked the hosts as they made the perfect start, taking the lead when Francois Hougaard reacted first with the ball popping out of a ruck before offloading to the alert Duncan Weir, who sped to the corner despite the efforts of Alex Goode.
Weir added the extras from the tightest of angles as the hosts struggled to get a foothold in proceedings.
And with Saracens faltering, the Warriors pounced once more. Perry Humphreys broke the line on halfway before being hauled down by Ben Spencer, but Ben Te'o was first on the scene to gratefully receive an offload and dot down under the sticks on his return to the side.
Mako Vunipola made the breakthrough when the Saracens forwards drove over from a lineout with the prop crashing down on the half-hour mark, with Farrell spurning the conversion.
Weir hit back with a penalty and Farrell replied with another of his own, but it was Worcester who took an unlikely 17-11 lead into the break.
Saracens took the lead for the first time in the contest when Clark made the most of an overlap to score and Owen Farrell converted to make it 18-17.
Substitute Strettle buffed the lead, charging through on his return from injury to break Warriors hearts with what was to be the final score of an attritional contest.
