In a thrilling encounter, England fly-half Fin Smith scored a last-minute try to give Northampton Saints a 35-28 win over Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park. The match seemed destined for a draw after replacement winger Paul Brown-Bampoe scored a charge-down try in the 78th minute, but Smith's dummy allowed him to coast over the line and break the Chiefs' hearts. Northampton's director of rugby, Paul Dowson, praised his team's perseverance, saying, "We stuck at it again in what was another proper game...
We've got a lot of trust in our attacking system and we have that intent to go and try and score." Exeter had started strongly, with England flyer Immanuel Feyi-Waboso scoring a try after just 82 seconds, and they doubled their lead five minutes later through centre Will Rigg. However, Northampton fought back, with tries from Alex Mitchell and Ollie Sleightholme, and the teams were level at 14-14 at halftime. The second half was cagey until Campbell Ridl scored his fifth Premiership try of the season, but Santi Carreras' two tries for Bath in their 48-15 win over Harlequins meant that Northampton's lead at the top of the table was cut to just one point.
Meanwhile, Leicester enhanced their Premiership Rugby charge with a 62-3 victory over Newcastle, with Gabriel Hamer-Webb scoring five tries and Jamie Blamire and Adam Radwan also on the mark.