Saturday 21 December 2019 18:06, UK
A round-up of Saturday's Gallagher Premiership action as Exeter came back to win at Leicester, Saracens powered past Bristol, Harlequins won at Wasps and Sale knocked Northampton off the top.
Exeter went top of the Gallagher Premiership as they came from behind to beat a battling Leicester 33-21 at Welford Road.
The Chiefs vaulted Northampton at the summit as flanker Don Armand scored two tries, along with one each from locks Jannes Kirsten and Jonny Hill, with fly-half Gareth Steenson converting all the touchdowns and also a penalty.
Leicester were in the boxseat with a super first-half display as England wing Jonny May went over twice, and flanker Jordan Taufua added another try, while England stand-off George Ford booted two conversions and a penalty.
But it was not to be Leicester's day, although they gave it a go.
Saracens won their fifth Premiership game in a row after a seven-try mauling of Bristol Bears earned them a 47-13 bonus-point victory.
Max Malins and Nick Tompkins scored two tries apiece with Mako Vunipola, Ben Earl and Brad Barritt also scoring as Saracens continue their bid to climb off the bottom of the table after being docked 35 points for salary-cap infringements.
Bristol have not won at Saracens for 13 years but led until the very last second of the first half.
They opened the scoring with Luke Morahan's try but Saracens ran riot in the second half, scoring five unanswered tries.
Sale Sharks produced an impressive display to end a three-game losing run following a comfortable 22-10 triumph over Northampton Saints at the AJ Bell Stadium.
The Sharks were excellent in the opening quarter and deservedly went 10-0 in front through Chris Ashton's try and Rob du Preez's penalty, but the Saints hit back.
Dan Biggar kicked a three-pointer before Lewis Ludlam powered over to level the scores at the interval.
Northampton were the better side going into half-time but Sale controlled matters brilliantly in the second period and touched down twice via Rohan Janse van Rensburg and Akker van der Merwe.
They also went in search of the bonus point but the hosts failed to take a number of opportunities that presented themselves.
Wasps' miserable season continued as they surrendered a 17-point lead as they crashed to a 28-22 defeat to Harlequins at the Ricoh Arena.
Wasps looked in total control when they led 17-0 at the end of the first quarter but they fell tamely away as Quins scored 28 unanswered points to take control of the match.
Wasps scored tries through Jack Willis, Zach Kibirige and Thomas Young with Jacob Umaga kicking two conversions.
Quins responded with tries from James Chisholm, Kyle Sinckler, Elia Elia and Marcus Smith, with Smith converting all four for a tally of 13 points.
