Saturday 7 April 2018 19:28, UK
Leicester beat Bath in Twickenham test and a round-up of the rest of the day's Aviva Premiership action.
Leicester Tigers are back in the Aviva Premiership play-off race after a pair of decisive tries in the last seven minutes carried them to a 34-19 win over Bath in front of a 60,884 Twickenham crowd.
The match swung one way and then another as Leicester led 20-19 going into the last quarter.
Bath scored one try from hooker Tom Dunn, with fly-half Rhys Priestland kicking four penalties and a conversion.
However, No 8 Sione Kalamafoni scored two tries to keep Leicester in the game during the second half, adding to a try from wing Adam Thompstone.
Scrum-half Sam Harrison got the bonus-point try on 73 minutes before full-back Telusa Veainu got the Tigers' fifth. Fly-half George Ford booted a penalty and three conversions.
Bath led 6-3 lead after 16 minutes through two Priestland penalties, with Ford sending over one for the Tigers.
The Tigers, however, gained the advantage after Bath scrum-half Kahn Fotuali'I was sent to the sin-bin when he stopped Leicester from scoring by putting his hands in a ruck on his own line.
Leicester landed on the Bath line and put their opponents under serious pressure. England squad prop Ellis Genge gave Bath tight-head Shaun Knight a torrid time as the Tigers opted for scrum after scrum when Bath were continuously penalised
Referee Wayne Barnes eventually had enough and reduced the West Country club to 13 men by sin-binning Knight.
The pressure told as Leicester took the lead when Thompstone raced over in the corner and the victory platform was set.
Saracens bounced back from their Champions Cup exit with a crushing 63-13 victory against Northampton Saints at Franklin's Gardens.
Mark McCall's men scored nine tries, taking their tally against Northampton this season to 33 in just four matches. They have racked up a half-century of points on each occasion.
There were nine separate scorers, with Alex Lozowski, Schalk Brits, Ben Spencer, Mako Vunipola, Liam Williams, Chris Wyles, Sean Maitland, Jackson Wray and Nathan Earle all scoring.
The Saints were well in the game at half-time, trailing just 15-13, with Reece Marshall having scored a try on his first Premiership start.
But Saracens turned the screw in the second half, recovering from their European quarter-final defeat at Leinster with a stunning showing.
Piet van Zyl scored two tries as an excellent all-round display from London Irish gave them a 35-5 victory over Harlequins at the Stoop - just their third win of Aviva Premiership season.
The visitors thought they had their first points in the fourth minute, but Alex Lewington's effort was chalked off after referee Ian Tempest adjudged James Marshall's final pass to have been forward.
Irish eventually did get the first points, with Tom Fowlie bursting through the host's defence before offloading to Van Zyl to finish.
They doubled their lead less than 10 minutes later, Marshall's cross kick was collected by Lewington and his kick over Mike Brown bounced its way into Van Zyl's hands for his second.
Quins had a great chance to close the gap minutes later, but scrum-half Danny Care's knock-on from the back of a five-metre scrum ensured the gap stayed at 14.
The visitors extended their lead even further when Max Northcote-Green finished off a move in the corner after some excellent build-up play by the Irish backs.
A Tommy Bell penalty on the stroke of half-time saw the Premiership's basement club take a well-deserved 22-0 lead into the break. In the second half they never looked back.
Newcastle's Aviva Premiership play-off hopes suffered a setback as Worcester came from behind to stun them 27-13 at Sixways.
Wing Vereniki Goneva's first-half try put Newcastle in charge, while fly-half Toby Flood added two penalties and a conversion, yet Worcester fought back impressively from a seven-point deficit.
Full-back Chris Pennell booted two early penalties before Worcester turned the game on its head with touchdowns during a three-minute second-half spell from flanker David Denton and prop Nick Schonert.
Both were converted by substitute Dorian Jones, before Denton added his second five minutes from time and Jones again converted.
The result dropped Newcastle, who have never reached the play-offs since they began 16 years ago, outside the top four with three games left.
