Sunday 29 December 2019 08:21, UK
Gloucester beat Northampton despite a hat-trick from Louis Rees-Zammit, while Harlequins and Leicester drew at Twickenham.
Louis Rees-Zammit scored a hat-trick for Gloucester but they had to be content with two bonus points in their 33-26 defeat at Northampton Saints.
Rees-Zammit threatened to set up a stunning late fightback, but Northampton held their nerve and Piers Francis' late penalty put the seal on the home success at Franklin's Gardens.
Northampton bounced back from an early Rees-Zammit score and went in 13-7 up at half-time thanks to Mike Haywood's try and eight points from the boot of Dan Biggar.
Biggar went off injured at the break but his side took control as man of the match Cobus Reinach registered a double.
Gloucester refused to go quietly, and two more tries from Rees-Zammit, as well as one from Chris Harris, kept them alive.
However, Northampton saw the game out late on to ensure their unbeaten Premiership home record remained intact.
Leicester came from 14 points down to snatch a 30-30 draw with Harlequins in Big Game 12 on Saturday at Twickenham.
Scores from Marcus Smith and Chris Robshaw opened up a big second-half lead for the Londoners, but Tigers fought back through Jordan Taufua and Telusa Veainu.
Harlequins looked on course for a fourth premiership win in a row when Robshaw's try in the second half made it 27-13, however the Tigers sparked a glimmer of hope when a driving maul spun to set up an unstoppable shove, Taufua putting the finishing touches to the move with Ford adding the conversion.
Smith and Ford traded penalties before Harlequins prop Will Collier was sent to the bin after repeated infringements to set up a grandstand finale.
A man down, Quins went on the offensive, going through 22 phases before Alex Dombrandt shelled a big chance to win it at the death for Quins as a slippery ball popped out of his grasp with the line in sight.
Bath resisted a stunning fightback by Sale to win 16-14 in a thriller at The Rec.
The home side went in front at half-time thanks to two penalties from fly-half Rhys Priestland and went into a 13-0 advantage when centre Jonathan Joseph scored a try that Priestland converted.
But tries from hooker Akker van der Merwe and wing Byron McGuigan, both converted by fly-half Robert Du Preez, sent Sale in front before a final Priestland penalty won it for the home team.
Worcester fly-half Duncan Weir scored 13 points as Warriors picked up four valuable Gallagher Premiership points against 14-man London Irish.
Weir was on the receiving end of a head-high tackle from Motu Matu'u, which earned the hooker a red card after only 34 minutes and left his side to play the whole of the second half a man short for the second away league fixture in a row.
Prop Ollie Hoskins was the offender at Bristol earlier this month when Irish went on to secure a 27-27 draw, but they could not repeat that remarkable feat on Saturday.
Weir scored a try for Worcester and kicked two penalties and a conversion. Jono Lance was the other Warriors scorer with a try and conversion, while Stephen Myler responded with two penalties for the visitors.
