Irish and Saracens win

Wasps defeated Northampton earlier in the day to leave the struggling Heineken Cup semi-finalists just a point below Worcester at the foot of the table.

In the afternoon's other fixture Saracens also took a bonus point with a 33-19 win over Harlequins at Vicarage Road.

Worcester missed out on the opportunity to secure their Premiership survival as they went down against London Irish.

Irish took first blood with a try from winger Sailosi Tagicakibau in the 13th minute, but Riki Flutey's missed conversion meant that at 5-0 it was still wide open.

Worcester capitalised on that six minutes later when scrum-half Matt Powell went over - Shane Drahm converting - and Irish then missed a penalty through Flutey before regaining the lead just after half an hour through a Robbie Russell try.

Nils Mordt's conversion made it 12-7, but a Drahm penalty two minutes before half time cut the deficit to just two points at the break.

Drahm then sent another over just after the break to give Worcester a very slender 12-13 lead.

Tagicakibau stepped up with his second try of the game in the 58th minute and a Mordt conversion made it 19-13, and Drahm hit his third penalty of the afternoon to move Worcester within three points of Irish with just under 15 minutes to play.

However, any hopes Worcester had of getting a result were finished off with six minutes remaining when lock Bob Casey earned Irish a bonus point with their fourth try of the afternoon, and Mordt's conversion sealed the win at 26-16.

Glen Jackson contributed 18 points to a fine Saracens win that sees the Hertfordshire-based side stay well on course for a playoff place.

Saracens raced into an 11-0 lead inside 20 minutes courtesy of a Kris Chesney try and two Jackson penalties.

Centre Mel Deane crossed for Quins on 31 minutes, and an Andrew Mehrtens conversion pulled the visitors back to within four points of their hosts.

Jackson made it 14-7 two minutes before the break with another penalty and Sarries looked set to take that lead into half time, but a Mike Brown try immediately after kept the sides within two points of each other.

Seven minutes into the second half Saracens' French full-back Thomas Castaignede touched down and Jackson's conversion gave his side breathing space.

Winger Dan Scarbrough and Jackson added further tries for Sarries in the last ten minutes for a bonus point in victory, and Quins full-back Brown grounded his second of the game on the stroke of full time to make the final score 33-19.