A Toby Flood try and 11 points from the boot of Jonny Wilkinson gave Newcastle Falcons a 16-7 win over Northampton Saints in front of a sell out crowd at Kingston Park on Sunday. This crucial win has lifted Newcastle Falcons into 8th place in the Guinness Premiership table out of the relegation zone, however Northampton Saints remain at the bottom of the table with just two more rounds to go.


Sale Sharks are not yet safe from relegation either, finding themselves dropping down to 10th position while Leicester Tigers went top of the table after a last minute penalty from Sam Vesty sneaked Leicester a 25-26 win at Edgeley Park on Friday night. The match saw two drop goals and 4 penalties from Sale Sharks' Lee Thomas, and two tries for Leicester Tigers, one from Luke Abraham and one from Tom Croft, plus a penalty kicked by Ian Humphreys, and three penalties and two conversions kicked by Sam Vesty, including the key match winning penalty.

Follow up:

On Saturday, Bristol Rugby and Worcester Warriors came face to face in a thrilling encounter. The visitors led 17-12 at half time thanks to tries from Thinus Delport and Mark Tucker, and a penalty and two conversions from Shane Drahm, but failed to score in the second half. Bristol scored two tries in the first half, one from Sam Cox and one from David Lemi, but it was Lemi's second try in the second half and a Danny Gray drop-goal plus a good defensive display that kept Worcester out that meant a win for Bristol 22-17, moving them up to 3rd place in the table. Worcester Warriors remain second to bottom in 11th place.


Over at the Recreation Ground, Olly Barkley kicked seven penalties out of seven for Bath Rugby, while tries from James Bailey and Will James for Gloucester Rugby plus a conversion and three penalties from Ryan Lamb saw the scores end level at 21 all, moving Bath Rugby into 8th place above Sale Sharks and out of relegation danger, and Gloucester Rugby down into 2nd place in the table below Leicester Tigers.


There were two London derbies this weekend, starting with NEC Harlequins against London Irish on Saturday at The Stoop. Tries from London Irish's Riki Fluty and Kieron Roche plus two conversions and a penalty weren't enough to see off NEC Harlequins' four tries from Mike Brown, David Strettle, Stuart Abbott and Paul Volley, plus four conversions and two penalties from the boot of Andrew Mehrtens, with the score finishing 34-17 to NEC Harlequins in this action packed match. London Irish and NEC Harlequins hold 6th and 7th in the Guinness Premiership table respectively.


On Sunday, London Wasps took on Saracens at Adam's Park. London Wasps were trailing 26-23 but two tries in the last 12 minutes from Eoin Reddan plus two conversions by Mark van Gisbergen, gave the home side a close 27-26 win.
London Wasps remain in 5th place in the table, still in with a chance of a top four finish, while Saracens slip down one place from 3rd to 4th place in the table.


With just two more rounds to go, Leicester Tigers, Gloucester Rugby, Bristol Rugby, Saracens and London Wasps, can all still achieve a coveted top 4 place after Round 22 and a place in the Guinness Premiership Semi Finals.

The club finishing in 1st place after Round 22 will play at home against the club finishing in 4th place, and the club finishing in 2nd place will play at home against the club finishing in 3rd place on the weekend of 5th/6th May.
The two winning clubs will then go through to the prestigious Guinness Premiership Final at Twickenham on Saturday 12th May.


At the other end of the table, Sale Sharks, Worcester Warriors and Northampton Saints are all not yet safe from relegation with two more rounds of the Guinness Premiership to go.



Thanks to Tim Perkins for this article.