Wasps close in on Saracens at the top

However, they missed out on a bonus point in their 26-12 victory at Worcester Warriors.

* In the other Sunday match Newcastle Falcons ran in six tries in a thriller of a game at Kingston Park with Juan Pablo Socino starring in a black shirt to down Harlequins.

We look at Sunday's  matches!

Worcester Warriors 12-26 Wasps

Wasps moved to within one point of the Premiership summit but missed out on a bonus point in their 26-12 victory at Worcester Warriors.

Brendan Macken's first-minute intercept score, the fastest in Premiership this season, got the visitors underway in perfect style, with Rob Miller's five kicks helping them to a 19-12 first-half lead.

But the Warriors were far from cut adrift, a quartet of Jamie Shillcock penalties their influence on the scoreboard.

Dan Robson's touch of second-half class earned a second try as Wasps held their own, back within touching distance of league leaders Saracens in their two-try success.

And they wasted little time getting underway at Sixways, with Macken at his usual, sharp best to break the line at the right time and intercept from Shillcock, running under the posts with less than a minute played.

Wasps boasted much of the early ball, but a trade in penalties from Shillcock and Miller – both looking deadly from the tee – kept the game on a knife-edge.

But a far from perfect line-out derailed Worcester attacks, losing three in a row before a bustling 18-phase attack saw the attack coming back for a penalty, allowing Shillcock cut the deficit to one point at 10-9.

It could have been better for the hosts, Cooper Vuna marauding his way down the left before running out of legs, only for flyhalf Miller – in for the injured Danny Cipriani – to extend Wasps' lead heading into the break at 19-12.

Knowing a bonus-point win could take them back to Premiership top-spot, Dai Young's team came out firing in the second period, scrum-half Robson the architect.

He profited from a gap in the Warriors' backline, bursting his way through for the second score of the afternoon, the only points after the interval.

Despite the two-score advantage, Wasps were far of assured of the spoils as the hosts piled forward heading into the closing quarter, Vuna coming within inches of the line before a fumble broke down the opportunity.

With both sides sensing the next, key score, the running rugby ramped up at Sixways, Worcester in particular lapping up the phases with ball in hand.

But with the fluency unable to translate into points, the running became desperate towards the last ten minutes.

Still Worcester came however, keen to get their first points of the half, regularly thwarted by a resolute Wasps defence showing their experience in the latter stages.

They were not without their new heads though, Ben Harris coming on his first Wasps appearance in Premiership, while Piers O'Conor started for his debut.

But the Warriors were unable to break through, forced to register their smallest home haul in defeat this season.

The scorers:

For Worcester Warriors:

Pens:Shillock 4

For Wasps:

Tries: Macken, Robson

Cons: Miller 2

Pens: Miller 4

Teams:

Worcester Warriors: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Bryce Heem, 13 Wynand Olivier, 12 Jackson Willison, 11 Cooper Vuna, 10 Jamie Shillcock, 9 Jonny Arr, 8 Alafoti Faosiliva, 7 Sam Lewis, 6 Dewald Potgieter (captain), 5 Darren Barry, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Jaba Bregvadze, 1 Val Rapava Ruskin.

Replacements: 16 Jack Singleton, 17 Na'ama Leleimalefaga, 18 James Johnston, 19 Andrew Kitchener, 20 Phil Dowson , 21 Michael Dowsett, 22 Connor Braid, 23 Josh Adams.

Wasps: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Frank Halai, 13 Brendan Macken, 12 Alapati Leiua, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Alex Rieder, 7 Thomas Young, 6 Ashley Johnson, 5 Kearnan Myall, 4 James Gaskell, 3 Marty Moore, 2 Tommy Taylor, 1 Matt Mullan (captain).

Replacements: 16 Jack Willis, 17 Ben Harris, 18 Phil Swainston, 19 Will Rowlands, 20 Guy Thompson, 21 Joe Simpson, 22 Guy Armitage, 23 Piers O'Conor.

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys

Assistant referees: Dean Richards, Andrew Pearce

TMO: David Sainsbury

Newcastle Falcons 38-32 Harlequins

Newcastle Falcons ran in six tries in a thriller of a game at Kingston Park with Juan Pablo Socino starring in a black shirt to down Harlequins.

Ten tries kept the crowd enthralled as Socino grabbed two, while Marcus Watson, Michael Young, Mark Wilson and Evan Olmstead completed the Falcons try scorers.

But Harlequins did not leave empty handed as Tim Visser's last-gasp try, and Ruaridh Jackson's conversion gave them a try bonus point, as well as a losing bonus point.

Harlequins, without a win – or even a point – on the road in Premiership this season before kick-off, enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges.

And a period of return kicking from 22 to 22, led to an opening for Visser whose kick forward put Luke Wallace clean through, but he could not gather and the opportunity was gone.

The visitors did open the scoring, though, with Tim Swiel kicking a penalty in the eighth minute after Falcons infringed at the breakdown.

But the home side hit back five minutes later as Michael Young stepped inside Aaron Morris, leaving the fullback for dead, to cross under the posts – with Joel Hodgson adding the extras.

Harlequins hit back though, in the 19th minute, with Rob Buchanan barrelling over in the corner after the visitors switched play swiftly from left to right.

And in an end-to-end game Falcons almost responded immediately, but Will Witty did not quite have the legs to make the line, and spilled the ball when felled five yards from glory.

But they did score on the half hour mark, as Socino made a darting run from the base of a ruck to put Falcons ahead – with Hodgson stretching the lead.

And two tries soon became three, as Mark Wilson sniped over two minutes later, after a devastating run from Alex Tait – Hodgson again unerring from the tee.

Falcons continued to dominate in the closing stages of the first half, turning defence into attack at the drop of a hat, but failed to find the killer pass to cross for a fourth time.

And the domination continued in the second half as Socino grabbed his second, feeding Fred Burdon before receiving again on the wrap-around support run to go over in the right corner – Hodgson wayward with the conversion.

But Dickson gave the visitors hope ten minutes later, sniping from the bottom of a ruck to spin his defender and ground the ball at the second time of asking – with Jackson adding the extras.

And Quins, 11 points behind with 25 minutes to play, continued to press forwards but when Visser – returning to Kingston Park ten years after making his Falcons debut – offloaded, Morris was not able to gather and the chance went begging.

The pressure did eventually pay, though, as Visser and Morris combined well to feed Dickson for an easy run in – Jackson converting.

The comeback did not last for long, though, as Socino was wrapped up but still managed to offload to Vereniki Goneva, who fed Evan Olmstead to finish well in the left corner – giving Hodgson too much to do with the conversion.

Falcons were now nine points ahead, with just ten minutes remaining, and could have further increased that lead but Wilson's charging run down the right touchline was brought to a halt by Morris.

Jackson then made for a tense finish after Falcons infringed, giving Harlequins the opportunity to reduce the deficit to six points – a chance the Scot happily took.

But a moment of genius from Sonatane Takulua, with three minutes to play, saw his deft, outside-of-the-boot, grubber kick collected by replacement Watson to touch down in the left corner – with Mike Delaney adding the conversion to secure the win.

The action was not complete though, and with the clock already in the red Visser ran clear to touch down and secure Harlequins' first point on the road this season, with Jackson kicking the conversion to add the losing bonus point.

The scorers:

For Newcastle Falcons:

Tries: Socino 2, Young, Wilson, Olmstead, Watson

Cons: Hodgson 3, Delany

For Harlequins:

Tries: Dickson 2, Buchanan, Visser

Cons: Jackson 3

Pens: Swiel, Jackson

Teams:

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Mike Delany, 14 Vereniki Goneva, 13 Fred Burdon, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 11 Alex Tait, 10 Joel Hodgson, 9 Michael Young, 8 Ally Hogg, 7 Mark Wilson (captain), 6 Callum Chick, 5 Will Witty, 4 Evan Olmstead, 3 David Wilson, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Rob Vickers.

Replacements: 16 Ben Sowrey, 17 Alex Rogers, 18 Jon Welsh, 19 Opeti Fonua, 20 Nick Civetta, 21 Sonatane Takulua, 22 Marcus Watson, 23 Dominic Waldouck.

Harlequins: 15 Aaron Morris, 14 Alofa Alofa, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Tim Swiel, 9 Karl Dickson, 8 Jack Clifford, 7 Luke Wallace, 6 James Chisholm, 5 James Horwill (captain), 4 Charlie Matthews, 3 Will Collier, 2 Rob Buchanan, 1 Mark Lambert.

Replacements: 16 Dave Ward, 17 Owen Evans, 18 Adam Jones, 19 George Merrick, 20 George Naoupu, 21 Charlie Mulchrone, 22 Ruaridh Jackson, 23 Charlie Walker.

Referee: Ian Tempest

Assistant referees: Tim Wigglesworth, Gareth Copsey

TMO: David Grashoff

Source: @premrugby