Thank you to our friends at premiership.com and Aviva, for providing us with the following post.Another cracking Aviva Premiership weekend saw Harlequins and Saracens win at the top, while London Wasps picked up a crucial victory at the bottom.London Wasps director of rugby Dai Young paid tribute to his players after they overcame the loss of England scrum-half Joe Simpson to end their nine-match losing run in Aviva Premiership Rugby.
The crucial 18-13 derby victory over London Irish put Wasps eight points clear of Newcastle, who had cut the gap at the bottom to four points with their 9-9 home draw against leaders Harlequins less than 24 hours earlier.
Saracens rugby director Mark McCall hailed fly-half Charlie Hodgson's kicking as "outstanding" as the reigning champions beat Northampton 18-12 to close on Aviva Premiership Rugby leaders Harlequins.
Saracens now trail Quins by four points thanks to six penalties from six attempts from England stand-off Hodgson.
McCall said: "Charlie was outstanding. His place-kicking was exemplary and his game-management tremendous, particularly when we came under pressure in the first half.
"All Charlie can do in terms of England selection is what he did, perform to a high standard. He has got himself back in contention for the England squad and England now have a decision to make with both Charlie and Toby Flood fit again and available."
LeicesterTigers boss Richard Cockerill showered praise on England half-backs Toby Flood and Ben Youngs after the Tigers crushed Aviva Premiership Rugby play-off rivals Gloucester at Welford Road.
Scrum-half Youngs scored one try and helped create two others, while Flood booted 11 points and kept Gloucester on the back foot through his masterly tactical kicking in miserable conditions.
"Ben and Toby came back to us on Thursday, and we wanted them to enjoy it today and have a crack," Cockerill said. "We know they are quality players, and I thought they did some fantastic things. Their attitude was really good."
Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter felt his players had set the record straight on two fronts with Saturday's 37-12 win over Sale.
The home side bounced back from a 12-9 loss to Bath to score five tries and keep their unbeaten run against Sale going, moving up to fifth in the Aviva Premiership Rugby table in the process.
Baxter said: "I think the players wanted to put the record straight after the relatively close loss to Bath, but they also wanted to put the record straight after what happened at Sale when many felt that the Sharks had thrown it away.
"Not many talked about how well Exeter played for the last 60 minutes up there to come away with a win. So we felt that we had a point to prove and we wanted to show that we could score tries.
"We are a good rugby side, we have got ambition, we are looking up the table and hunting things down rather than worrying about other stuff. We showed that in this game."
Bath coach Brad Davis hailed a mature performance from rookie fly-half Tom Heathcote after a 36-17 win over Worcester put the west country club within touching distance of a Heineken Cup qualification spot.
Donald is currently ruled out by a knee ligament injury and may not be back until early April, but Davis warned that he is not going to walk back into the team.
"Stephen's going to have to fight his way back into that number 10 shirt," Davis said. "The guy who's there at the moment is going from strength to strength and learning the game.
"The crowd here at the Rec know their stuff and when Tommy's on the ball they get excited about what he does for the team. He's a level-headed guy but he was terrific again today."
Harlequins boss Conor O'Shea said that his side struggled to impose themselves on Newcastle in a feisty clash at Kingston Park.
O'Shea was not a happy man after an ill-tempered match in which Newcastle had led 9-6 going into the dying seconds despite having had two players sin-binned during the game.
"We had to scrap and the atmosphere was febrile out there," said O'Shea. "We wanted pace in the game and we couldn't get that. All credit to the Falcons in what was a very physical game but on more than one occasion, I think the line was crossed.
"I think Newcastle overstepped that mark. It was tough and uncompromising and I just hope Newcastle stick to not going over the edge."
Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter felt his players had set the record straight on two fronts with Saturday's 37-12 win over Sale.
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