David Atwood goes on the charge during his side's defeat to leaders Leicester © Getty Images

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

Leicester continued their impressive recent run of form at Welford Road with a comprehensive 33-11 win over Gloucester to stretch their winning streak to six games and cement their place at the top of the Guinness Premiership table.

The hosts' pack, which included England's Louis Deacon and Italy's Marco Castrogiovanni, completely dominated the visitors. Despite rarely setting foot in the opposition '22 in the opening stages, Toby Flood was able to put his side in front with three penalties before he took Anthony Allen's pass and fed former Wallaby Lote Tuquiri for the opening try. With Rob Kearney ruled out of Ireland's clash with England next week, Leicester fullback Geordan Murphy gave a timely reminder of his worth with the second try and despite a second half rally from Gloucester who scored through Johnny May, Flood nailed a penalty before Ben Youngs completed the job with his side's third try.

Tigers' coach Richard Cockerill would have been equally cheered when news reached him that Northampton had lost ground at Harlequins with the Saints going down 13-6 at the Twickenham Stoop.

Despite having three England squad members in their team, the Saints succumbed to 'Quins' best performance of the season so far, despite the absence of Nick Easter from their backrow. A testy opening led to former All Black Nick Evans putting his side in front with two penalties. Mike Brown's fine 19th minute try and Evans' excellent conversion gave the hosts a lead that proved insurmountable even though they weren't to score again with Stephen Myler's boot salvaging a losing bonus point.

London Irish lost ground in the race for the post-season following a 12-12 draw with Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park. Fly-half Jimmy Gopperth kicked three second-half penalties to earn the Falcons their fourth Premiership draw of the season and leave the Exiles still searching for their first win of 2010.

Irish deservedly led 12-3 at the break at Kingston Park as back-rowers George Stowers and Steffon Armitage went over from close range after excellent build-up work by the Exiles pack. Gopperth kicked a penalty for the hosts, but was unsuccessful with two other efforts, before slotting three more penalties after the break as the Falcons launched a stirring comeback to tie the scores.

Olly Barkley made his long awaited return to action as Bath secured a 37-13 bonus point victory over Worcester at the Rec with the Warriors finishing the game with 14 men.

Winger Joe Maddock scored two first half tries for the hosts who cruised to their fourth victory in a row. Matt Banahan, Michael Claassens and Jonny Faamatuainu scored the other tries, while centre Ryan Davies kicked ten points. Willie Walker scored all of the Warriors' points with a converted try and a bad day at the office got worse for Mike Ruddock's men when Tom Wood received a second yellow card midway through the second half.

On Friday night, fly-half Ceiron Thomas powered Leeds to their first ever victory over Sale at Edgeley Park, kicking 14 points for the Guinness Premiership's basement side in a 19-10 victory. Scrum-half Scott Mathie scored a vital second-half try for Andy Key's side, who moved to within a point of Worcester ahead of their fixture with Bath this weekend.

Sale had taken an early stranglehold on the game thanks to Kristian Ormsby's try, converted by Charlie Hodgson. Hodgson also slotted a second-half penalty but the home side were unable to find the control exerted by Thomas.

The Leeds pivot opened the scoring after only three minutes with a drop-goal and also produced a try-saving tackle on prop Eifion Roberts. Thomas kept the scoreboard ticking over and Sale were unable to breach the resolute defence of the away side, with centre David Bishop held up over the line in the closing minutes to end their hopes and condemn them to a sixth straight defeats in all competitions.