Northampton 22-13 Bath
Northampton Saints edged a tough encounter with Bath at Franklins Gardens on Christmas Eve as they got back to winning ways in the Aviva Premiership.
Olly Barkley's penalty put the men from the West Country into an early lead before tries from Phil Dowson and Tom Wood gave the Saints a 12-3 advantage in a swashbuckling opening 20 minutes.
After Nick Abendanon was sin-binned, the hosts extended their lead through a Ryan Lamb penalty and a converted Jamie Elliott score and went into the half-time break leading 22-3.
Barkley knocked over his second penalty three minutes into the second period before Stephen Donald became the second Bath player to see yellow. Northampton couldn't turn their numerical advantage into points and then saw Samu Manoa and James Downey sent to the bin within two minutes of each other.
Bath got themselves back into the match when skipped Francois Louw powered over but were unable to find another score in the final 15 minutes, meaning they left the East Midlands empty-handed and extended their losing run to four games.
Gloucester 39-10 Wasps
Gloucester ran in six tries in a Boxing Day demolition of London Wasps at Kingsholm as they secured only their second win in five Premiership games.
The hosts raced into an early 14-0 lead with converted tries from Luke Narraway and Jonny May before Wasps replied with a converted score of their own when Elliot Daly dotted down.
May's second try extended the home side's advantage but Nick Robinson's penalty for the visitors meant that Gloucester went into the break leading 19-10.
A penalty from Freddie Burns pulled the Cherry and Whites further clear early in the second half before a second-half blitz gave them a comfortable victory.
Henry Trinder went over to secure a bonus point for the West Country side before two scores in five minutes from full-back Olly Morgan put the gloss on the win.
Sale 27-19 Newcastle
Sale Sharks held off a rally from bottom side Newcastle Falcons as they recorded an important win at Edgeley Park.
Tom Brady's scintillating early try put the hosts into a 7-0 lead before three penalties from Nick MacLeod extended that advantage out to 16 points. Newcastle's Jimmy Gopperth and MacLeod then exchanged penalties before a converted try from Jeremy Manning for the visitors left them just nine points behind at half-time.
Two more penalties from Gopperth early in the second half brought Newcastle to within three points but a score from Sale's Mark Cueto then rocked the visitors' recovery.
Gopperth struck his fourth penalty of the afternoon but MacLeod was to have the last word as his fifth successive kick denied Newcastle a bonus point and sent Sale Sharks temporarily into third in the Aviva Premiership.
London Irish 29-22 Exeter
London Irish got the edge over Exeter Chiefs at the Madejski Stadium thanks to 19 points from the boot of the ever-reliable Tom Homer.
An early converted try from Scottish centre Joe Ansbro gave Irish the lead before an Ignacio Mieres penalty put the Chiefs on the board. It wasn't long before Homer got in on the act as he slotted two penalties to extend the advantage to 13-3.
As half-time approached, Homer and Mieres struck two penalties apiece leaving Irish 19-9 in front at the interval. Mieres' fourth penalty early in the second half put Exeter within a converted score but instead it was the hosts who got that converted try when Shontayne Hape crossed.
The visitors responded excellently with a converted score of their own when full-back Luke Arscott crossed and when Mieres kicked another penalty, the Chiefs were within four points of Irish. But with two minutes remaining, Homer slotted his fifth penalty to confirm a good win for London Irish over a gritty and determined Exeter side.
Worcester Warriors 13-32 Leicester Tigers
Leicester Tigers continued their fine run in the Aviva Premiership with a bonus-point victory over Worcester Warriors at Sixways.
The Tigers raced into a 17-0 lead in the opening quarter of the match with converted tries from Matt Smith and Toby Flood sandwiching the latter's first penalty. Flood and Worcester's Joe Carlisle then exchanged penalties as the visitors held a 20-3 advantage at the interval.
Worcester began the second half positively, closing the gap through Carlisle's second penalty and a converted score from winger Marcel Garvey but could not make any more of an impression on the encounter.
The men from the East Midlands ended the game as a contest with a try from Louis Deacon before they grabbed a late bonus point score when Horacio Agulla went over for the fourth try.
Harlequins 11-19 Saracens
Saracens ended Harlequins' unbeaten run in the Aviva Premiership as they came out on top in the "Big Game at Twickenham in front of 82,000 spectators.
Quins struggled to keep their discipline early on and were punished by three Owen Farrell penalties in six minutes as Saracens built up a 9-0 lead. Nick Evans then got the hosts' first points on the board with a penalty of his own before an interception try from Sarries' David Strettle gave the winger an easy try against his former club.
Farrell and Evans then swapped penalties before half-time as the visitors went to the interval leading 19-6 in what was a stunned atmosphere at Twickenham.
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