Sale upset the Saints

 

Steve Diamond's troops had suffered a setback in recent weeks following back-to-back defeats against Leicester Tigers and Wasps, but didn't give Northampton an inch at the AJ Bell.

 

Lewis-Roberts scored from a maul in the first half before Braid followed suit in the second, while Danny Cipriani, who bagged ten points from the tee, was never far away from the action.

 

Northampton did avoid a shutout as replacement Teimana Harrison barged over and despite the loss, will return from Europe top of Aviva Premiership Rugby's pile.

 

Meanwhile, Sam Burgess' first ever Premiership try helped a clinical Bath Rugby to a convincing 39-26 victory over Wasps, in a pulsating contest at the Rec.

 

The rugby league convert enjoyed his best performance in a Bath shirt, and Francois Louw, Semesa Rokoduguni, Matt Banahan and Ollie Devoto added to his powerful score to deliver a 12th win from their last 13 games at home.

 

Alapati Leiua, Nathan Hughes, Ben Jacobs, and Alex Lozowski answered for the visitors, but it was not enough as Wasps miserable record at the Rec continued, where they have still not won since the 2010/11 season.

 

Bath started strongly and looked sharp in attack, with Burgess putting in some thumping hits early on in the midfield.

 

Finally, Harlequins scrumhalf Danny Care dropped a timely reminder to England boss Stuart Lancaster that he should be the starting No.9 in the Six Nations after a 32-12 victory against Leicester Tigers.

 

Care started the opening two fixtures of the year-end internationals for England before being axed in favour of Leicester's Ben Youngs but in a shoot-out for the No.9 jersey to start against Wales at the Millennium Stadium in February, it was the Harlequins man who came out on top.

 

He scored a first half try, was instrumental in Jack Clifford's score just second before the break and was also influential around the fringes and in defence. 

 

Marland Yarde added a third score for Harlequins on 45 minutes and in overtime they secured the all-important bonus-point as Mike Brown fed replacement Tim Swiel for the fourth try. 

 

Quins' Ben Botica and Leicester's Owen Williams exchanged kicks at goals but it was Care who proved the difference between the two sides after a mesmerising display. 

 

 

 

 

Tries: Lewis-Roberts, Braid

Cons: Cipriani 2

Pens: Cipriani 2

 

Try: Harrison

Con: Myler

 

 

Sale: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Will Addison, 13 Jonny Leota, 12 Sammy Tuitupou, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Chris Cusiter, 8 Josh Beaumont, 7 Magnus Lund, 6 Dan Braid (captain), 5 Nathan Hines, 4 Jonathan Mills, 3 Vadim Cobilas, 2 Marc Jones, 1 Eifion Lewis-Roberts.

Replacements: 16 Cameron Neild, 17 Alberto de Marchi, 18 Ross Harrison, 19 TJ Ioane, 20 David Seymour, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Nick Macleod, 23 Tom Arscott.

 

Northampton: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Jamie Elliott, 13 George Pisi, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 George North, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Phil Dowson, 7 Ben Nutley, 6 Tom Wood (captain), 5 Calum Clark, 4 Sam Dickinson, 3 Salesi Ma'afu, 2 Mike Haywood, 1 Alex Corbisiero.

Replacements: 16 Matti Williams, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Jordan Onojaife, 20 Teimana Harrison, 21 Joel Hodgson, 22 James Wilson, 23 Ken Pisi.

 

Referee: Matthew Carley 

Assistant referees: Steve Lee, Paul Burton

TMO: Trevor Fisher

 

 

 

Tries: Louw, Rokoduguni, Burgess, Banahan, Devoto

Cons: Ford 4

Pens: Ford 2

 

Tries: Leuia, Hughes, Jacobs, Loswoski

Cons: Goode, Loswoski 2

 

 

Bath: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Sam Burgess, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 George Ford, 9 Chris Cook, 8 Leroy Houston, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Matt Garvey, 5 Dave Attwood, 4 Stuart Hooper (captain), 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Ross Batty, 1 Nick Auterac. 

Replacements: 16 Rob Webber, 17 Paul James, 18 David Wilson, 19 Dominic Day, 20 Carl Fearns, 21 Peter Stringer, 22 Ollie Devoto, 23 Olly Woodburn.

 

Wasps: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Alapati Leiua, 12 Ben Jacobs, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 James Haskell (captain), 6 Sam Jones, 5 Kearnan Myall, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Carlo Festuccia, 1 Matt Mullan.

Replacements: 16 Edd Shervington, 17 Simon McIntyre , 18 Phil Swainston, 19 James Gaskell, 20 Ashley Johnson, 21 Charlie Davies 22 Alex Lozowski, 23 Elliot Daly.

 

Referee: Andrew Small

Assistant Referees: Greg Garner, Peter Huckle

TMO: David Sainsbury

 

 

 

Tries: Care, Clifford, Yarde, Swiel

Cons: Botica 2, Sweil

Pens: Botica 2

 

Pens: Williams 4

 

 

Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Matt Hopper, 12 George Lowe, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Ben Botica, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Chris Robshaw, 6 Jack Clifford, 5 George Robson, 4 Charlie Matthews, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Joe Gray, 1 Joe Marler (captain).

Replacements: 16 Rob Buchanan, 17 Darryl Marfo, 18 Will Collier, 19 Sam Twomey, 20 Joe Trayfoot, 21 Karl Dickson, 22 Tim Swiel, 23 Tom Williams.

 

Leicester Tigers: 15 Mathew Tait, 14 Adam Thompstone, 13 Vereniki Goneva, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Miles Benjamin, 10 Owen Williams, 9 Ben Youngs (captain), 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Graham Kitchener, 3 Fraser Balmain, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Marcos Ayerza.

Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Michele Rizzo, 18 Logovi'i Mulipola, 19 Sebastian De Chaves, 20 Jamie Gibson, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Seremaia Bai.

 

Referee: Luke Pearce

Assistant referees: Roy Maybank and Paul Dix

TMO: Geoff Warren