Premiership Rugby Cup: Exeter, Northampton and Wasps win in high-scoring contests
- Published
Max Norey scored a hat-trick as Exeter earned a narrow win over Worcester Warriors at Sandy Park
Max Norey scored a hat-trick as Exeter boosted their Premiership Rugby Cup semi-final hopes by edging out Worcester 31- 29 at Sandy Park.
His treble was among five Chiefs tries but Warriors moved to the top of Pool A with one round of fixtures remaining thanks to their two bonus points.
Elsewhere, Northampton beat Saracens 46-35 in a 12-try thriller settled by debutant Frankie Sleightholme's score.
Wasps ran in seven tries in a 41-26 win over Sale, who earned a bonus point.
Exeter's win over previously unbeaten Worcester means it is a tantalising four-way fight at the top of Pool A, with Warriors, Gloucester, Chiefs and Bristol separated by only two points
The Chiefs went ahead inside four minutes with Cory Teague taking a quick penalty before crashing over but Worcester responded quickly through Alex Hearle.
Hooker Norey got his first after 20 minutes with another close-range tap penalty, before Warriors took a 19-14 lead when Tom Howe scored on his 50th appearance for the club and ex-Chief Will Chudley went in on his return to Sandy Park.
Norey added his second three minutes before the break to complete a pulsating first half which ended 19-19.
Jamie Shillcock's penalty early in the second half put Worcester back in front and Isaac Miller crossed after 56 minutes to secure the bonus point and make it 29-19.
Good work from Sam Hidalgo-Clyne created a gap for Danny Southworth to surge through for Exeter's fourth try and reduce the gap to three, with Norey's third wrapping up the narrow victory.
Northampton Saints scored seven tries on their way to victory over Saracens
Saints and Saracens served up an absolute thriller at the StoneX Stadium with the lead changing hands several times before debutant Sleightholme's try three minutes from time proved decisive.
Sarries led 14-13 at the break after James Grayson and Tom James' tries for Saints were cancelled out by Rotimi Segun and Kapeli Pifeleti.
But Northampton started the second half well, with Piers Francis and George Hendy's length-of-the-field score giving them a 25-14 after an hour.
Saracens then struck a quickfire double of their own through substitute Brandon Jackson and Segun's second, to move three points into the lead after 65 minutes.
Francis and Hendy both got their second tries to restore the Saints lead, before Ethan Lewis powered over to reduce the gap to four points entering the closing stages, with Sleightholme settling matters with a dream debut score in the corner.
The result means London Irish progress to the semi-finals from Pool C, with Saints needing to win their final game against Newcastle Falcons to have any hope of making the next stage as the highest-ranked second-placed team.
Zach Kibirige scored Wasps' opener to set his side on course for victory over Sale
Wasps produced a fine second-half performance at the AJ Bell Stadium to secure a convincing win over Sale in another try-packed game.
Zach Kibirige and Will Porter scored either side of Tommy Taylor's try to give Wasps a 14-7 half-time lead.
Curtis Langdon's try seven minutes into the second half got Sale back into it but Wasps then took control, with Nizaam Carr, Dan Frost and Francois Hougaard crossing to extend the advantage to 31-12.
Will Cliff scored Sale's third with 10 minutes left to reduce the gap to 12 but two further Wasps tries in three minutes, through Theo Vukasinovic and Paolo Odogwu, sealed the points.
There was still time for Sale to claim a try bonus point when Jack Metcalf scored in the closing stages but defeat ends their interest in this year's competition.