Gallagher Premiership: Harlequins beat Leicester late on as Wasps and Northampton record wins

Andre Esterhuizen scored a try with five minutes to go as Quins fought back to beat Leicester in Saturday's Premiership

A round-up of Saturday's Gallagher Premiership action as Harlequins fought back to beat league-leaders Leicester Tigers late on, while Northampton pulled off a remarkable comeback and Wasps won well...

Harlequins 26-20 Leicester Tigers

Andre Esterhuizen completed a trademark Harlequins fightback as Gallagher Premiership leaders Leicester were edged 26-20 at Twickenham Stoop.

Freddie Burns had nudged Leicester 20-18 ahead with six minutes to go having relieved George Ford of the kicking duties, but Quins' response was immediate as Esterhuizen showed his strength to finish in the right corner.

A first half that finished 15-12 became even tighter after the interval as Tigers showed their resilience to weather long spells of pressure before taking control.

The tide was turning in their favour when Jasper Wiese crashed over but once an exchange of place kicking between Ford and Marcus Smith subsided, the champions burst into life to engineer the decisive score.

Quins finished the Premiership title clash strongly as they kept alive their hopes of a home semi-final, but if they meet again in the knockout phase Leicester will believe their strongest line-up could finish the job.

Bath 31-36 Northampton Saints

Northampton stayed on course for the Premiership play-offs after staging a remarkable second-half fightback to beat Bath 36-31.

Saints, who trailed 31-12 with 20 minutes to go, moved into fourth place as they somehow conjured a bonus-point win at the Recreation Ground without their suspended Wales captain Dan Biggar and injured England skipper Courtney Lawes.

Tries from Alex Mitchell and Tommy Freeman, plus a 76th-minute penalty try, hauled them level before substitute hooker Mike Haywood touched down in the final act of a gripping game.

Bath finished the game down to 12 men after all the replacements had been used, as Josh Bayliss went off injured and Jaco Coetzee, then Semesa Rokoduguni were yellow-carded during the closing seconds.

Scrum-half Ben Spencer's try double, plus touchdowns from centre Max Clark and wing Will Muir, looked to have been enough to send Saints packing, while Spencer and his half-back partner Danny Cipriani each kicked two conversions, and Cipriani added a penalty.

But Northampton, who saw substitute back-row forward Brandon Nanson carried off following a lengthy second-half stoppage, ultimately moved fourth above Exeter and Gloucester.

Centre Matt Proctor and number eight Juarno Augustus scored earlier Northampton tries as they claimed a first Premiership away win against Bath since 2015, ending a run of six successive defeats.

Wasps 41-12 Worcester Warriors

Wasps secured an eighth successive home victory in all competitions with a 41-12 win over Worcester Warriors at the Coventry Building Society Arena.

Lee Blackett's side took a 15-point lead in at the break courtesy of tries from Tom West and Josh Bassett plus five points from the boot of Jimmy Gopperth.

Worcester's first score came in early into the second half when Harri Doel finished neatly only for Gabriel Oghre and Elliott Stooke to strike and secure Wasps a bonus point.

Ted Hill's try gave Warriors hope of salvaging something from the game but those slim chances were erased as Oghre grabbed his second and Tom Willis' opportunistic score at the death completed a comprehensive win for the hosts.