Flood kicked four penalties and one conversion, out of a possible two, but Matt Garvey's try with two minutes remaining helped London Irish come from 24-7 down to draw at Leicester Tigers.

Fellow England hopeful Shontayne Hape put the away side ahead with a try that was converted by Tom Homer, before a penalty try and eight points from Flood's boot gave Tigers a 13-7 half-time lead.

Tom Croft went over after the break to stretch Leicester's lead to 17 points – although this time Flood failed with the boot.

Adam Thompstone's try closed the gap before Garvey's late effort, both of which were converted by Homer, who also kicked a penalty to take his personal tally to nine points.

Flood almost rescued the win for Leicester in the dying seconds but his 25-metre drop goal went agonisingly wide.

Harlequins made it eight league wins from eight this season as Nick Evans kicked 16 points to give the London side a 26-13 win at Bath.

The hosts started well and took the lead through a Dave Attwood try, only for Chris Robshaw, who has been in outstanding form so far this season, to respond in kind three minutes later and it was then all Evans as the fly-half kicked eight points with the boot to give Quins a 13-7 half-time lead.

Mike Brown crossed in the second half to make the game safe, with Evans adding another eight with the boot to seal an emphatic victory.

Elsewhere, Gloucester got back to winning ways with a 24-19 win at Exeter, who were the last team they tasted victory against back in February.

The visitors crossed three times through Freddie Burns, Akapusi Qera and England full-back Olly Morgan, with Burns successful with all three conversions and a penalty.

Hoani Tui scored a first-half try for Exeter, but the game was never in the balance with the hosts’ second score coming in the last minute to earn the home side a bonus point.