Quins win while Saints climb to third

Newcastle 14-32 Northampton

Northampton moved up to third place in the Aviva Premiership with a 32-14 win against beleaguered Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park.

England full-back Ben Foden scored two cleverly worked tries at the start of each half to put the Saints in the driving seat.

Giant prop Soane Tonga'uiha was driven over for the visitors' third while former Falcons man Tom May delivered the fourth try - and the bonus point - four minutes from time with his first touch after coming on as a late replacement. Suka Hufanga scored a first-half try for Newcastle.

Exeter 9-11 Harlequins

Harlequins bounced back from defeat by Saracens to go into 2012 at the top of the Aviva Premiership table following a narrow 11-9 win at Exeter.

The play was far from textbook but Quins had enough to do the double over the Chiefs in front of a sell-out crowd of 10.602 at Sandy Park.

The visitors had gone in to the break 8-6 in front, with Danny Care crossing for a try, but replacement fly-half Gareth Steenson looked to have sealed the game six minutes from time with a 40-metre penalty.

But England Saxons fly-half Rory Clegg, who had a nightmare of an afternoon with his kicking as he missed the target with four penalty attempts and a conversion, landed his second penalty to clinch the game three minutes from time.