Exeter inflicted the biggest home league defeat of the season on Leicester to cement second place in the Aviva Premiership.

The Chiefs, who have not lost since 30 October, completed the double over Leicester with a comfortable 34-15 win, earning maximum points to take them a point behind the leaders, Wasps.

Their tries came from Kai Horstmann, Stuart Townsend, Mitch Lees and a penalty try, while Henry Slade kicked 14 points.

Michele Rizzo and Maxime Mermoz scored for the Tigers in a defeat that dealt a huge blow to their play-off hopes.

The match between second and fifth in the Premiership was all over bar the shouting at the end of the first half when Exeter had built up a 27-8 lead and outscored the Tigers three tries to one.

The Chiefs, losing finalists last year, recovered from conceding an early try to give Leicester a lesson in power, direct running and accurate kicking and thoroughly deserved their lead.

Leicester, in contrast, made too many errors, handing Exeter two tries and playing for 10 minutes with 14 men after the hooker Tom Youngs was sin-binned for collapsing a driving maul which earned Exeter a penalty try.

Despite a day of heavy rain Leicester’s new 250,000 pitch at Welford Road was perfectly playable but both sides opted to kick the leather off the ball or keep it in the forwards.

The lock Michael Paterson touched down against his former club, Sale Sharks, as Northampton Saints kept their play-off hopes alive with a 32-12 triumph at the AJ Bell Stadium.

After a slow start to the game the Saints assumed command and went 12-0 ahead via Ken Pisi and Paterson tries before Josh Charnley’s first try in rugby union reduced the arrears.

Stephen Myler’s penalty extended the Saints’ buffer on the stroke of half-time and Mike Haywood’s try after the interval to all intents ended the match as a contest.

Myler kicked a second three-pointer to go with his two conversions before Bryn Evans got a consolation score for the Sharks.

All Northampton needed for a perfect evening’s work was a fourth try and that came in the last minute via Ethan Waller.

With atrocious conditions in the first half, it was always going to be an attritional contest before the interval. Handling was particularly a problem in the early stages and it was Sale who initially dealt better with the torrential rain, pinning the visitors back in their 22, before Northampton took command.