Bath’s Barkley undergoes surgery to repair double fracture

He was carried off during the second half of the Aviva Premiership match wearing an oxygen mask following a lengthy delay while he was treated on the Kingsholm pitch by paramedics.

Barkley tweeted last night: “For those that have asked I clean broke my tibia and fibula and had a rod with a few screws put through my tib to secure it. Fib will heal.”

The game saw Bath’s unbeaten Aviva Premiership run came to a grinding halt against play-off rivals Gloucester.

Gloucester completed a season’s double over their fierce local rivals and thus underlined their credentials as genuine Premiership title challengers.

A ninth successive win in all competitions – Gloucester’s longest unbeaten run since 2002 – was secured by tries from England prop Paul Doran-Jones, centre Henry Trinder and wing Tom Voyce’s double at sold-out Kingsholm

Fly-half Nicky Robinson added four penalties and a conversion, while Matt Banahan, Tom Biggs and Ben Williams scored for Bath, but the visitors could have few complaints as they suffered just a second defeat from their last 10 starts.

A run of 27 unanswered points in the second half gave Exeter their biggest Aviva Premiership victory of the season with a handsome 30-9 win at Sandy Park to condemn Northampton to their sixth successive league defeat.

The home side went in at half-time 9-3 down but hit back in emphatic fashion through tries from Tom Hayes, Sireli Naqelevuki and Tom Johnson.

Gareth Steenson finished with three conversions and as many penalties, while Saints failed to add to Stephen Myler’s three first-half penalties.

Dave Walder’s boot enabled Wasps to boost their play-off hopes despite an unconvincing 33-26 win over Sale at Adams Park.

Wasps coach Trevor Woodman was muted in his praise of his side.

He said: “We are pleased with the win but the performance was a little bit mixed, some of our game management needs to improve and not play too much in your own half when you’re 15 points up.”

Walder, who reached 1,000 points in the Premiership with his third penalty, added: “It’s a great achievement but I was disappointed to miss the last kick. We managed to keep them at arm’s length.”

Asked about his future plans, he said “I haven’t finalised anything yet but it looks like Japan.”

Fly-half Walker kicked 23 of their points landing six penalties, a conversion and a dropped goal.

Replacement Billy Twelvetrees missed a last-gasp penalty as Saracens moved to within two points of Leicester at the top with an attritional 15-14 win at Welford Road.

A magnificent try from Leicester centre Manu Tuilagi separated the sides at the break as three penalties apiece from Jeremy Staunton and Alex Goode saw the hosts hold a 14-9 interval lead.

But the Tigers remained scoreless after the break and two more Goode penalties, the second just five minutes from time, saw Saracens become the first side to win at Welford Road in the league this season.