George North and Alex Corbisiero were in the Saints line-up © Getty Images

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The Cardiff Blues saw off Sale Sharks on Friday night winning 45-24 at the Cardiff Arms Park.

Sale dominated the first 40 with tries from Henry Thomas and Sam James helping them to a 17-9 lead. But in the second-half the Blues stormed back with Tom Williams, Lloyd Williams, Owen Williams and Dafydd Hewitt going over. James Gaskell grabbed one for Sale but it proved to be nothing more than consolation as they crashed to a heavy defeat.

Northampton Saints handed debuts to British & Irish Lions Alex Corbisiero and George North and they helped Jim Mallinder's men to a 24-6 win over Edinburgh on Friday.

In a dire first-half, Edinburgh's Greig Laidlaw scored the only points of the game and it was the away side who went into the break 3-0 to the good. However, in the second 40 tries from Ken Pisi and a double from Phil Dowson, along with seven points from Stephen Myler and two from Sam Olver, helped the Franklin's Gardens side to a win.

Bath were also in action against RaboDirect PRO12 opposition on Friday evening and they lost 22-20 against the Dragons at Rodney Parade. Dan Evans opened the scoring for the home side after 13 minutes but a try from Rob Webber and five points from George Ford gave Bath a 10-7 half-time lead. Anthony Watson came on for the second 40 and made an immediate impact scoring a sensational solo effort to put Bath 17-13 ahead. But Jason Tovey chipped away at the scoreboard with the boot and it proved to be enough to hand the Dragons a morale-boosting victory.

And on Thursday, Saracens eased past the Cornish Pirates 61-3 at the Honorary Artillery Company. Sarries had new signings James Johnston and Billy Vunipola in their ranks and opened the scoring early on when Ernst Joubert went over. His try was quickly followed by efforts from Jamie George, Ben Ransom, Chris Ashton (two) and George Kruis as they sped to a 42-3 lead before half-time. And they added three more in the second 40 with Duncan Taylor, Ransom and Jack Wilson scoring.