Aviva Premiership round-up: Exeter close gap on first as London Irish lose again
Exeter 50-12 Worcester
Exeter closed the gap on Aviva Premiership leaders Saracens to three points with a comprehensive 50-12 victory over Worcester in an entertaining game at Sandy Park.
Number eight Thomas Waldrom and wing Olly Woodburn starred for the Chiefs with a hat-trick of tries, while James Short and Ollie Atkins also crossed the whitewash. Henry Slade converted three of the scores after Gareth Steenson had added the extras to two tries.
Cooper Vuna and Andy Symons scored for the visitors, with Tom Heathcote converting, as they trailed 17-12 at the interval, before being blown away in the second half as their run of four Premiership wins in succession came to an abrupt end.
London Irish 15-30 Sale Sharks
Fly-half Danny Cipriani scored 20 points as Sale Sharks left London Irish looking down at the Aviva Premiership trap door with just a handful of games left.
The ex-England number 10 scored a try in the dying minutes and kicked three penalties and two conversions as the Sharks collected the points in their pursuit of a top-six place.
London Irish end the day four points adrift at the bottom of the league table, despite having taken an 8-3 lead in the opening period. Greig Tonks and Sean Maitland handed the hosts the advantage, but Cipriani’s excellent performance secured the win for Sale.
A Johnny Williams try gave hope to London Irish, but Mike Haley and TJ Ioane also scored for Sale, who are chasing qualification for the European Champions Cup.
Harlequins 46-25 Newcastle
Harlequins secured a bonus-point win over Newcastle Falcons to keep their Premiership play-off hopes alive.
Tim Visser, Jack Clifford and Joe Gray all scored tries in the first-half to give the Quins a 21-6 lead, but the Tyneside club fought back through two Nili Latu tries and one from Marcus Watson.
However, the home side showed their dominance, with Ben Botica converting an excellent five conversions to close the gap on fourth placed Northampton.
Despite Newcastle losing their 14th game of the season, they remain four points clear of last place.
Leicester 35-30 Gloucester
Leicester won 12 points in the second period to secure a memorable comeback against Gloucester to move up to fourth place.
Stephen McColl, Henry Trinder and Paddy McAllister all scored tries for Gloucester in the first half to hand them a 27-13 lead at the break.
However, Manu Tuilagi, Peter Betham and Niki Goneva got the Tigers back into the game - and eventually saw them overtake Gloucester to secure a bonus-point win.
Tuilagi had scored in the first half, along with Telusa Veainu, to give Leicester an early lead, and they will be delighted that their comeback victory keeps them in with a chance of reaching the Premiership play-offs