A couple tries by South African scrum-half Michael Claassens saw Bath to a 25-14 victory over Northampton on Saturday and go to the top of the Premiership.
They benefited from previous leaders London Irish slipping up as they lost 16-13 to Saracens, who showed character in rebounding from a 33-24 defeat by Wasps, who were at the receiving end of a 31-3 walloping by Sale on Friday.
Harlequins returned to their original home of Twickenham and they and opponents Leicester put on a thriller of a match for the record club attendance of 50,000 in a 26-26 draw.
The hosts produced a great comeback, having trailed 16-9 at the break and then falling further behind in the second-half as the Tigers — who last played Harlequins at Twickenham in 1987 when they won 12-7 — clawed their way to a 23-9 lead thanks to tries by Johnny Murphy and Tom Croft, while Toby Flood kicked 16 points.
However, second-half tries by Mike Brown and Ugo Monye’s late effort — his sixth of the campaign, leaving him at the top of the try-scoring charts in the Premiership — brought them back into the match.
Former All Black fly-half Nick Evans contributed 16 points, including the conversion to level the match.
Another side to bounce back from defeat were Gloucester, who beat bottom side Bristol 29-10, with World Cup winning center Mike Tindall scoring two tries to restore some luster after the 42-12 thrashing they suffered at the hands of London Irish the previous weekend.
The only good news for Bristol — whose coach Richard Hill has been told he will receive money to bolster his squad in their battle against relegation — was that second from bottom Newcastle could not pull away as they were held to a 16-16 draw by Worcester.
Claassens, capped eight times by the Springboks, made his decisive contribution in the second-half, scoring one try in the 54th minute and another six minutes from time. His compatriot Butch James added 10 points with his boot.
Saracens, who remain in mid-table, had the satisfaction of ending their opponents’ 10-match winning run in all competitions.
They had some nervy moments once veteran South African-born, English World Cup winning back Mike Catt was introduced at fly-half, but the 37-year-old was not quite able to get them over the line.
The Exiles cause was not helped by Australian fly-half Peter Hewat — who had set up their only try — missing two penalties, especially a very kickable one minutes from time.
■ CELTIC LEAGUE
AFP, CARDIFF
Welsh international scrum-half Mike Phillips ended his nine-month injury nightmare in style on Saturday, making a try-scoring return in the Ospreys 20-6 win over Scarlets in the Celtic League.
Wales captain Ryan Jones added another try five minutes into injury time to deny the Scarlets a losing bonus point.
Saturday’s other result:
• Ulster 13 Leinster 21
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite