Bath, Gloucester, Leicester, Exeter and the Scarlets all secured victories in Saturday's LV= Cup action.

Beech: Touched down for Bath

Bath shook off their mid-winter blues with a 46-14 win over Northampton that puts them in pole position for a home semi-final.

Northampton, missing 10 players to England and the second-string Saxons, were well in touch until the last quarter but were then blitzed by three tries in seven minutes from Olly Woodburn, Stephen Donald and Charlie Beech.

Earlier tries had been scored by Ross Batty and Anthony Perenise - a spectacular sprint by the Samoan prop from nearly 40 metres, while Olly Barkley kicked 21 points.

Saints' points came from a try by prop Alex Waller and three Stephen Myler penalties.

The Scarlets gave prop Rhys Thomas the perfect get well message as two tries from wing Vili Iongi helped them close in on an semi-final berth with a 27-19 victory over London Irish.

Thomas is in a comfortable condition in hospital following heart surgery after being taken ill at training on Thursday, and his team-mates did their best to raise his spirits.

Iongi's brace and a score from replacement prop Deacon Manu, plus three conversions and two penalties from Dan Newton secured a win that means a repeat performance at Sale next week will seal a last-four spot for the first time since 2006.

Irish, who were guilty of spurning a series of scoring chances, replied through four Tom Homer penalties and a converted try from Topsy Ojo that gave them the lead in the final quarter, but they could not hold off a strong Scarlets finish.

Leicester kept their hopes of a semi-final spot alive as Ben Pienaar's second-half try secured a 19-9 win over Premiership leaders Harlequins.

In a tight first half, Andy Forsyth's converted try gave the Tigers a 7-3 lead at the interval, with Rory Clegg kicking Quins' points from a penalty.

Although Clegg landed two further penalties, tries from 20-year-old winger Alex Lewington and Pienaar pulled Leicester clear to inflict Quins' fourth defeat from the last six games.

Gloucester claimed a convincing 40-3 win over Cardiff at Kingsholm.

Gloucester had a stronger side with Henry Trinder, James Simpson-Daniel and a number of experienced forwards in their starting line-up and they dominated.

Two splendid tries from star man Simpson-Daniel and 15 points from the boot of young Ryan Mills ensured a comfortable victory for the home side.

Tim Molenaar, Andy Hazell and Peter Buxton were the other men to bag tries for Gloucester.

Wasps' disastrous season continued to nosedive as Exeter captain Gareth Steenson kicked 15 points to keep his side's hopes of reaching the semi-finals alive with a 30-16 victory.

Playing against an out-of-form Wasps side, who were effectively out of the competition even before kick-off, the Chiefs were dominant at the scrum and showed more of a cutting edge in attack.

Exeter were also excellent in defence to restrict Wasps to just one try through Mike Powell thanks largely to some ferocious tackling throughout as they stayed in touch with Northampton in Pool Four.

Dave Ewers, Myles Dorrian and Ally Muldowney were the players with the tries for the away side.