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This weekend teams were trying to take advantage of games in which they will have their Home International players available for one of the last times for a while before European rugby resumes and the Six Nations start.
Here is a wrap of week 13 in the Aviva Premiership.
Newcastle 24-22 Bath
Newcastle must have thought they had done something wrong to the fixture gods when they had to play three of the top four consecutively over the Christmas and New Year period.
After good performances against Saracens and Wasps they finally got the win they deserved against a Bath team that have now lost consecutive matches. As with the Wasps game, the Falcons made a flying start with winger Niki Goneva crossing after three minutes with Joel Hodgson adding the extras.
That was as good as it got for the Falcons for a while as Bath took control in the second half.
Semesa Rokoduguni then scored a ten-minute brace, both times being put in by Anthony Watson as Bath looked to claim a double over the Falcons following their emphatic 58-5 win over them at the Rec earlier in the season.
Joel Hodgson had a penalty sandwiched in between those two tries but as the game entered its final ten minutes at 22-10 it looked like another defeat was on the cards.
Optimism grew when Callum Green barged over in the 7second minute and the Bath pack couldn’t stop a fired up Falcons outfit as Ben Harris also muscled his way over from close range in the 77th minute and Hodgson held his nerve to kick the winning points.
Gloucester 55-19 Worcester
Gloucester handed Worcester a seven-try serving at Kingsholm to bounce back from their defeat to Northampton. The Scoreline would have been even worse for the Warriors had they not scored two tries in the final six minutes.
Jonny May, Charlie Sharples, Matt Scott x2, Jacob Rowan plus both props John Afoa and Josh Hohneck were the recipients of the rather generous that the Warriors were putting up.
The only surprise was that it took Gloucester until the 15th minute to register their first try as England wing May finished off the break by Tom Marshall. May then laid on Scott’s first try before Cooper Vuna pulled one back for Worcester, but that was as good as it got for the visitors, as Gloucester immediately went up the other end and cancelled that score out with Rowan’s score.
Greg Laidlaw kicked three conversions while Billy Twelvetrees got the other four on a day where the Worcester coaching staff would have learnt that they are in a titanic tussle to stay in the division.
Harlequins 29-26 Sale
Harlequins overcame their injury problems to collect their tenth straight home defeat thanks to 24 points from replacement Tim Swiel.
Having lost a number of players in the Worcester game, the last thing Quins needed was to have Nick Evans leave the field after five minutes, although his replacement Swiel proved to be the hero.
Denny Solomona continued his superb scoring rate by scoring a brace, his first in the 26th minute was converted by Will Addison to give the Sharks a 13-6 lead after Addison and Swiel had traded a couple of penalties each.
The Quins responded with a two minute double salvo as first Charlie Walker finished off Mike Brown’s good work then Swiel pounced on a loose ball to scamper 50 metres to give his side the lead at the break.
Another penalty further extended the lead shortly after half time before Byron McGuigan scored his team’s second of the game to haul the Sharks right back into the contest. Swiel and Addison then exchanged penalties Quins looked to see the game out which, after Swiels fifth penalty of the game looked inevitable. Solomona crossed for Sale’s third try in the 77th minute to earn a losing bonus point but the win remained in the capital.
Northampton 32-26 Bristol
It shows how far they have come in recent weeks as Bristol left Franklins Gardens disappointed not to have more than the one losing bonus point to show for their efforts.
Northampton did walk away with the maximum five points as tries from Louis Picamoles, Mikey Hayward, JJ Hanrahan and Tom Wood all scored tries with Stephen Myler adding three conversions and a penalty.
Picamoles try opened the scoring with Myler converting for a 7-0 lead but after a Jason Woodward penalty had reduced the arrears Bristol took the lead when Mitch Eadie scored after an offload from Nick Fenton-Wells.
Another Woodward penalty put Bristol further in front before Hayward was the beneficiary of a driving maul off a lineout to dot down, Myler’s conversion meant that 14-13 at half time. A burst from the powerful Louis Picamoles lead to captain Tom Wood to sprint over next to the posts offering Myler an easy two points and give Northampton a cushion.
Bristol came right back at them and after another penalty a bit of Woodward magi from his own 22 brought them right back into the game. His deft chip was collected by Vardell who then gave the ball back inside to Woodward to go under the posts.
The next twist was immediate as Hanrahan collected his own charge down to score the bonus point try but Woodward levelled things with his fourth successful penalty. Saints applied serious late pressure onto the Bristol defence and that pressure told when Stephen Myler converted a penalty and sub Henry Mallinder made sure of the win with a late drop goal.
Bristol will take a lot of heart from this one though and may not be favourites for the drop anymore.
Saracens 13-13 Exeter
Richard Barrington was sent off after ten minutes for contact with the head in a tight encounter at Allianz Park.
In fairness Brad Barritt, who has since been sighted, can also count himself lucky he didn’t see a card of any colour for his part in the tackle as the new tackle laws are strictly enforced.
Exeter made their extra man count as Jack Nowell collected a cross field kick from Gareth Steenson to score in the corner, with the captain adding the extras. Alex Lozowski got his first penalty of the game to get Sarries on the board as both defences cancelled out any attacking threat either team posed.
In a game high on attrition but surprisingly low on attacking quality, neither team threatened that much. Saracens sent their big runner in midfield to try and over power Exeter, while Exeter themselves didn’t offer much after their score and allowed Saracens back into the game.
Lozowski added a second penalty before half time and that was the end of the scoring until the 70th minute when Steenson once again put a converted score between the two sides. With Saracens pushing as hard as they could for the equalising score replacement prop Tito Lamositele controlled the ball at the back of a driving maul to which Exeter had no answers to score and Lozowski levelled the game with the conversion.
Exeter will feel as this was an opportunity missed while Saracens will be delighted by the final result.
Wasps 22-16 Leicester
Wasps returned to the summit of the table after a hard fought win at the Ricoh Arena. It looked like a very different story after a scintillating first 30 minutes that saw Wasps score three unanswered tries through in form winger Christian Wade, Tommy Taylor and Dan Robson.
Wade won the race to the ball after a grubber through from Elliot Daly, Taylor scored from a driving mail and Robson scored after fine work from Thomas Young and Josh Basset as Wasps broke from just outside their 22.
Owen Williams kicked a penalty for the Tigers in a first half in which they had no answer to the home side. Aaron Mauger, taking over from the recently sacked Richard Cockerill, will have been delighted by his teams second half display.
They penned Wasps back, not allowing them to get into any sort of rhythm in attack and scored the only try of the second half through Peter Betham who burrowed over from close range.
Freddie Burns’ conversion and another Williams penalty sent nerves through the 27,000-strong crowd but a late Gopperth penalty after Dan Coles had seen yellow for interfering with the scrum half at a ruck eased Wasps home and back to the top of the table.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.