Premiership Rugby Cup: Leicester end London Irish 100% record as Wasps and Sale also win
- Published
Leicester will wait until Wednesday to find out if they have qualified for the Premiership Rugby Cup semi-finals after beating London Irish in their final pool match
Leicester took a big step towards joining London Irish in the Premiership Rugby Cup semi-finals with a 41-26 home win over the Exiles.
The Tigers will qualify as Pool B winners if Newcastle fail to beat Northampton on Wednesday.
Irish had already secured their place in the last four but six Tigers tries helped end their 100% record.
Luke Mehson scored four tries as Wasps defeated Saracens 40-21, while already eliminated Sale beat Harlequins 34-29.
Henry Arundell gave Irish an early lead in the cross-group game at Leicester, as they looked to make it four wins out of four, before Bryce Hegarty levelled the score for the hosts.
Lucas Brooke then drove over the line for the Pool C winners, but the Tigers again responded, this time through Hosea Saumaki.
Juan Pablo Socino scored right before half-time to give Leicester the lead for the first time in the match before Sean Jansen added his first Tigers try early in the second half.
Full-back Hegarty scored and converted his second of the night before Philip Cokanasiga scored twice for Irish either side of a Charlie Clare touchdown.
Newcastle will almost certainly need a bonus-point victory against Northampton to displace Leicester at the top of Pool B, given the Tigers' vastly superior points difference.
Luke Mehson scored four tries as Wasps beat Saracens in Coventry
In Coventry, Mehson was the star for Wasps as they ran in six tries to dismantle Saracens, but they need a very unlikely set of results in Wednesday's matches to have a chance of progress.
Nizaam Carr and Michael van Vuuren added further tries for the hosts, while Rotimi Segun, Sam Bryan and Samson Adejimi replied for Saracens, who finish bottom of pool C with one win from four matches.
Sale emerged as winners of an entertaining encounter at The Stoop, with Will Cliff, Kieran Wilkinson and Simon Hammersley giving the visitors a commanding lead despite Cassius Cleaves' score for Quins.
Wilkinson was then sin-binned in a dramatic finish to the first half which also saw Villiami Taulani score for Harlequins before Sale were reduced to 13 players, with Joe Carpenter also shown a yellow card.
Sale Sharks won at The Stoop to end Harlequins' cup campaign
Cleaves then added his second try of the game, but Jack Metcalf hit back straight away for the visitors as they re-took the lead going into the interval.
Ross Chisholm levelled the score immediately after the break, only to go off injured following a lengthy break in play after Carpenter had scored Sale's fifth try.
James Harper then extended the Sharks' lead and although Archie White scored late on for Quins, it was not enough to prevent defeat in their final pool match as their interest in the competition also came to an end.