Play-off chasing Saints take East Midlands spoils at Tigers

Northampton hung on with 14 men in the closing stages to clinch the East Midlands derby against Leicester and maintain their push for a Premiership play-off place.

The Saints were forced to make three changes when Ollie Sleightholme, Ethan Painter and Teimana Harrison failed late fitness tests, but the disruption did not affect their performance in the opening half with Leicester looking the more disjointed of the two sides.

It was a contrast in styles from the opening minute when Northampton ran from their own line and David Ribbans conceded a scrum for a forward pass. The Tigers were more direct, using penalties to set up driving mauls and kicking with enough variety to test the positioning of the Saints’ back three and minimise the risk of counter-attacks.

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Northampton took the lead after 10 minutes when Ribbans forced his way over the line after Dan Biggar and Piers Francis had both been twice held up short. Leicester used a penalty to set up a rolling maul 10 metres out, but they were held up and when the Saints infringed in a similar position five minutes later, George Ford took the three points.

Both teams were disrupted by injury. Leicester centre Dan Kelly suffered concussion after 17 minutes, which brought Nemani Nadolo off the bench, and Northampton’s scrum-half Alex Mitchell was forced off by an ankle injury after edging the tussle with his England rival Ben Youngs.

Northampton played with more fluency than their rivals who made a number of unforced errors on a sunny afternoon. Rory Hutchinson intercepted Ford’s pass to Kini Murimurivalu on the halfway line to extend his side’s lead to 12-3 with Biggar’s conversion but Nadolo powered his way over from close range three minutes before half-time for the Tigers’ first try.

They were then playing with 14 men with Matt Scott in the sin-bin for a high tackle on Northampton’s number eight Shaun Adendorff. It was Leicester’s 17th card of the Premiership campaign and Harry Wells increased the tally five minutes after the restart for his third slightly late tackle of the match and second on Biggar.

Northampton were then 18-10 ahead through two Biggar penalties either side of the interval and when Sam Matavesi finished off a line-out move following the penalty conceded by Wells, they looked secure.

Leicester did not go down quietly. They were on their best home run for five years with six successive victories and a Ford penalty was followed by Nadolo’s second try.

Northampton played the last six minutes with 14 men after JJ Tonks saw yellow, but two late home attacks ended in penalties for holding on and the Saints tiptoed in.

Sale recover to seal vital win at Worcester

Sale Sharks survived a major test of their Premiership play-off credentials before subduing struggling Worcester 35-32 in a Sixways thriller.

Worcester, seven points adrift at the Premiership basement before kick-off, led until 13 minutes from time but Sale stayed third above Harlequins following a powerful finish that produced tries for wing Arron Reed, replacement prop Coenie Oosthuizen and number eight Dan du Preez.

It meant that the Sharks secured a bonus point following earlier touchdowns from centre Connor Doherty and wing Byron McGuigan, while fly-half AJ MacGinty kicked four conversions and Kieran Wilkinson one.

Worcester ultimately slipped to a 14th successive league defeat – they have not recorded a Premiership victory since November – but pushed Sale all the way through scrum-half Francois Hougaard’s try hat-trick and claimed two bonus points.

Full-back Jamie Shillcock also crossed – a brilliant solo effort from inside his own half – and he kicked two penalties and three conversions for a 17-point haul, with Sale forced into sustained defence during added time.

Second-half rally sees Gloucester win

Gloucester staged an impressive second-half fightback to beat Newcastle 35-24 in an entertaining Premiership game at Kingsholm.

A lethargic Gloucester found themselves 21-7 in arrears after 20 minutes but the hosts rose from their slumbers to dominate and secure a morale-boosting victory.

Willi Heinz scored two tries of their tries. Louis Rees Zammit, Ruan Ackermann and Lloyd Evans also crossed, with Evans adding four conversions and Billy Twelvetrees one.

Callum Chick scored two tries for Newcastle and George McGuigan got the other, with Brett Connon converting all three and adding a penalty.

Marcus Smith the hero for Harlequins

Earlier, Marcus Smith’s superb individual try snatched a 25-21 victory for 14-man Harlequins at London Irish as they took another step towards qualifying for the Premiership play-offs.

Third-placed Quins are now 12 points ahead of the Exiles in the table but they were forced to do things the hard way at the Brentford Community Stadium after having Andre Esterhuizen sent off early in the second half.

They trailed to Ollie Hassell-Collins’ try going into the final minute but Smith conjured up a moment of magic to cap a day where Mike Brown had made club history.

It was a landmark day for Harlequins stalwarts Brown and Danny Care, the latter making his 300th appearance for the club.

Brown, who is joining Newcastle next season, meanwhile became the first Quins player ever to reach the milestone of 350 games for the men from the Stoop.