Juarno Augustus helped Northampton Saints claim a record win and secure a home semi-final in the Premiership, while Thomas du Toit continued his remarkable try-scoring season.
Premiership
– Sale Sharks climbed into the top four – and ended Leicester Tiger’s drive for the Premiership playoffs – with a 31-22 victory. Centre Robert du Preez, No 8 Jean-Luc du Preez and locks Cobus Wiese, Hyron Andrews and Ernst van Rhyn, returning from injury, all played for Sale Sharks, who have a slim two-point lead over Exeter Chiefs heading into the final round. Handre Pollard played 47 minutes for Leicester, who were captained by Hanro Liebenberg and had Jasper Wiese at No 8.
– Thomas du Toit scored his 11th try of the season as Bath virtually assured themselves of a top-four spot with a 28-17 win in Newcastle. lock Quinn Roux joined the Springbok prop in Bath’s starting lineup, while Jacques du Plessis and Louis Schreuder played from the bench. Bath, in third place on 55 points, have a five-point lead on Exeter and Harlequins.
Prop-star ⭐️@BathRugby break the deadlock through Thomas du Toit at Kingston Park 😮💨#GallagherPrem | #NEWvBAT pic.twitter.com/wffLCl7tUI
— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) May 10, 2024
– Premiership leaders Northampton Saints smashed an under-strength Gloucester 90-0 to guarantee a home semi-final. The Saints ran in 14 tries in total against a Gloucester side that made 12 changes to their Challenge Cup semi-final win. Juarno Augustus started at No 8 for Northampton, who welcomed Burger Odendaal back from injury.
Ruthless.
We’re into the playoffs once more thanks to our biggest ever @premrugby win 🙌
😇 90 – 0 🍒 pic.twitter.com/ONAZzn4q93
— Northampton Saints 😇 (@SaintsRugby) May 11, 2024
– Saracens made sure of their place in the playoffs with a 41-20 win at Bristol, overcoming an early 10-0 deficit and a period with two players in the sin-bin. Ivan van Zyl started at scrumhalf for Saracens. Benhard Janse van Rensburg was at outside centre for Bristol, who trail Sale Sharks by three points.
– Champions Cup semi-finalists Harlequins’ hopes of a top-four finish are hanging by a thread after a 58-26 defeat at Exeter. The result saw the Chiefs move above Quins into fifth in the table. Jacques Vermeulen started at flank for Exeter and was yellow carded for cynical play. Fullback Tyrone Green scored his eighth try of the season for Harlequins, who rested Andre Esterhuizen and kept captain Stephan Lewies and Irne Herbst in the second row.
French Top 14
– Clermont rebounded from the disappointment of a European exit to the Sharks by beating Perpignan 35-28 to lift their hopes of a Top 14 playoff. Marvin Orie played off the bench for Perpignan.
– Siya Kolisi‘s first game in a month ended in defeat as Racing 92 surrendered an early 14-0 lead to lose 37-28 to Bayonne at home. Kolisi started at No 8 in his return to the starting lineup, but Racing suffered a massive blow when lock Fabien Sanconnie was red carded. Bok prop Trevor Nyakane also started for Racing, while playmaker Tristan Tedder was a substitute. A second successive defeat saw Racing drop to fifth place, with just two points separating them from seventh.
– Montpellier’s hopes of escaping the relegation zone suffered another blow in a 27-26 loss to Castres. Jan Serfontein started for Montpellier, who had Cobus Reinach on the bench. Montpellier are now seven points from safety.
– Bordeaux powered up to third place on the log with a comfortable 34-14 victory over La Rochelle. A third loss in five games saw La Rochelle, who had Dillyn Leyds at fullback, drop to sixth place on the table.
– Toulouse deposed long-time leaders Stade Francais at the head of the Top 14 with a crushing 49-18 home win. Even resting several stars ahead of the Champions Cup final, Toulouse outscored the Parisians six tries to two. JJ van der Mescht played off the bench for Stade Francais.
Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images