Adam Powell slides in to score for Saracens © Getty Images

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Players/Officials: Toby Flood | Lewis Moody

Tournaments/Tours: Guinness Premiership

Teams: Bath Rugby | Gloucester Rugby | Harlequins | Leeds Tykes | Leicester Tigers | London Irish | Newcastle Falcons | Northampton Saints | Sale Sharks | Saracens | Wasps | Worcester Warriors

Reigning Guinness Premiership champions Leicester booked a home semi-final with a comfortable 40-22 bonus point win over Harlequins at Welford Road on Saturday.

Leicester were ahead within three minutes. The Quins won a line-out on halfway but Danny Care's pass was neatly intercepted by Toby Flood, who raced away to score. The outside half added the conversion and, minutes later, a 30-metre penalty to give the Quins a nightmare start.

The home side were penalised at two scrums in their own half which allowed Quins a platform in the Leicester 22. From a scrum, Care made amends for his earlier error by breaking and kicking ahead to win the race for the touchdown, with the Leicester defence strangely hesitant.

Flood kept the scoreboard ticking over from the tee but Leicester were then shocked as, totally against the run of play, Quins produced a 10-point scoring burst to give them a surprising 17-16 interval lead. Firstly David Strettle and Care combined to send George Lowe away for a try which Clegg converted, then Lowe produced a strong run to set up a ruck in the home 22 from which Clegg put his side ahead with a neat drop-goal.

With Quins flanker Chris Robshaw in the binMatt Smith scored the Tigers' next try after a break from Johne Murphy and Ben Youngs pounced from a quick tap penalty for a 33-17 lead. A series of scrums deep in Quins territory then proved fatal, the referee awarding a penalty try for the Tigers' bonus point.

Meanwhile, Saracens silenced Franklin's Gardens with a 28-27 win over Northampton, keeping alive their play-off surge and wrecking the Saints' enviable unbeaten home record.

Saints fullback Ben Foden gave Shane Geraghty the chance to seal the win when he touched down late on but the replacement sprayed his conversion attempt wide. The result confirmed Sarries as semi-finalists, where they will again meet Northampton.

Saints took a fifth-minute lead from the second penalty of the match when Stephen Myler, making his 100th appearance for Northampton, curled in a fine kick from wide on the left. But Saracens hit back within a minute, Rodd Penney's pass sending captain Ernst Joubert in by the left wing flag, despite the attentions of Chris Ashton.

The game erupted in the 33rd minute when Saracens halted an attack on the right by tackling Ashton just before Bruce Reihana's pass reached the prolific wing. White sent Botha to the sin-bin and awarded a penalty-try, converted by Myler.

After Myler had kicked the Saints ahead, Saracens centre Adam Powell crossed on the left following a multi-phased passage of play in which Jacques Burger and Glen Jackson played key roles. Myler and Jackson exchanged kicks, and the lead, before Saracens' adventure was rewarded after 70 minutes when, after battering Saints on their line, the ball was whipped wide left where Penney managed to squeeze in by the flag. Jackson's conversion-attempt went wide. Saints struck in the 78th minute after a succession of attacks when Foden raced over - but replacement Geraghty missed the conversion.

Bath's extraordinary run of form continued as they moved into fourth place in the Guinness Premiership with a 35-19 win over Wasps at Twickenham.

Wing Joe Maddock ran in a hat-trick of tries but the man of the match was centre Olly Barkley, who capped an impeccable display in midfield by scoring the bonus-point try and kicking 15 points. Bath can now deprive Wasps of a play-off place by beating Leeds at home in a fortnight.

Wasps had started quite brightly and Danny Cipriani landed two penalties to open up a 6-0 lead inside nine minutes. The West Country side hung on, though, and Barkley, presented with a chance from 45 metres, promptly pulled back three points.

The first try came out of the blue on 18 minutes when Michael Claassens took a quick free-kick and Butch James ghosted through a gap before delivering a cleverly delayed one-handed pass to Barkley. Nick Abendanon was on hand to send Maddock over for the try and Barkley added the conversion.

Another Barkley penalty on 22 minutes put Bath 13-6 ahead but he had not finished just yet. Four minutes later the centre's break split Steve Kefu and the limping Simon Shaw, leaving lock Stuart Hooper, Claassens and Abendanon to present Maddock with another try in the opposite corner.

Barkley was wide with the conversion and Bath then had to contend with the loss of Abendanon to the sin-bin for a block on Tom Varndell. Cipriani missed the simple penalty but was then successful from 45 metres. The former England No.10 was first to score in the second half, chipping over a penalty from short range to cut the lead to 18-12 after a frantic passage of 12 phases.

However, Maddock completed his hat-trick on 57 minutes by intercepting Cipriani's floated pass. Barkley added the conversion and, as Wasps wilted, added a penalty on the hour to make it 28-12.

Cipriani's next and final act before being substituted was to knock on a simple pass from which Bath roared back onto the attack and Barkley finished things off, also converting his own try. At 35-12 it was over, still with 15 minutes to play. Indeed, it was only in the last minute that Wasps managed to get over the Bath line when replacement Ben Jacobs broke from a scrum, with Dominic Waldouck adding the conversion.

London Irish's search for a top four finish took a further hit with a 34-20 loss to Gloucester at Kingsholm.

The Exiles, beaten Premiership finalists last season, were blown away by a Gloucester side that blazed into a 27-3 interval lead. Wings Lesley Vainikolo and James Simpson-Daniel scored tries, while fly-half Nicky Robinson kicked 19 points and there was a second-half touchdown for substitute prop Alasdair Dickinson.

Irish, twice reduced to 14 men after yellow cards, posted consolation touchdowns by lock Kieran Roche, flanker Steffon Armitage and prop Dan Murphy, while Tom Homer kicked a penalty and ex-Gloucester player Ryan Lamb added a conversion. Their play-off hopes, though, are now hanging by a thread.

Even if they beat high-flying Northampton in a fortnight's time, results involving rivals Wasps and Bath must still go their way.The chances are they will miss out, but Irish can have few complaints based on this latest evidence.

On Friday, Newcastle secured their place in next season's Guinness Premiership with a 32-20 victory over relegation rivals Sale in an enthralling clash at Edgeley Park.

A majestic display from Newcastle fly-half Jimmy Gopperth inspired the Falcons to a priceless victory that preserved their top flight status and plunged their opponents further into the relegation mire. The Kiwi weighed in with a 27-point haul courtesy of a try, two conversions and six penalties with scrum-half Micky Young also crossing for a score. Sale fly-half Charlie Hodgson kicked the home side to the brink of victory with five penalties, a conversion and a drop goal while fullback Marika Vakacegu and No.8 Kris Ormsby notched tries but their second half revival ran out of steam.