A late long-range JJ Hanrahan penalty gave Munster a dramatic 15-13 comeback win over Benetton in the Pro14 quarter-final against Benetton at Thomond Park.

The hosts trailed 13-6 on the hour mark but three penalties from replacement Hanrahan saw them book a semi-final with Leinster at the RDS on 18 May.

Wing Ratuva Tavuyara scored the only try in the first half as Benetton went close to causing a major upset.

Tommaso Allan kicked eight points while Tyler Bleyendaal landed two penalties.

Leinster beat Munster 16-15 when the Irish provinces met at the semi-final stage of the Pro14 last season.

Having finished second in Conference A, and with home advantage, Munster went into the game as favourites but Benetton, the first Italian side to make the knockout stages of the competition, led 10-3 at the break with the help of Ratuva's converted try just before half-time.

Hanrahan's accuracy from the tee proved crucial however, including s decisive 76th-minute kick from the halfway line.

Antonio Rizzi and Jayden Hayward both had final chances for Benetton, but they pulled their drop goal attempts to the right and Munster survived.

Benetton make confident start

Benetton looked far from overawed in the opening exchanges, playing a slightly more conservative game than we are used to seeing from them as they kicked for territory regularly.

Munster eventually settled into their game and started to take a stranglehold but found it hard to turn territory into points.

Chris Farrell was brought down just short of the line, while Tadhg Beirne knocked on over it when Conor Murray tried to put him in.

Instead it was through the boot of Bleyendaal that they finally took the lead, the fly-half slotting after Luca Bigi had taken Murray out at a ruck.

Benetton responded immediately, Allan knocking over a penalty after a ruck infringement to bring the Italian side level, despite just 20 percent possession to that point.

Munster continued to press, but could not find a way through the Benetton defence, Marco Riccioni particularly eye-catching with one turnover penalty and a huge scrum to earn another.

The one issue for Benetton was how little ball they had enjoyed in attack, but when they finally did get some, they made it count.

Munster cleared their lines initially but after a lineout and some good work by the forwards down the left, they shifted the ball back to the right.

The passing was slick and Tavuyara produced a trademark finish, touching down with one hand while being tackled. Allan added the touchline conversion.

Hanrahan kicks Munster to success

Johann van Graan's side had dominated the half to little success, but showed more realism after the resumption, Bleyendaal knocking over a second penalty of the afternoon four minutes in.

Hame Faiva could not collect a pass from Tavuyara with the try-line at his mercy but Allan stretched the lead with a penalty on the hour, after Hanrahan had strayed off-side at a lineout.

Munster hit back, Hanrahan knocking over two penalties to make it a one-point game with 15 minutes to go.

Benetton continued to press for a second touchdown but Hanrahan kicked the winning points after Benetton were brought back 10 metres for kicking the ball away.

Munster: Haley; Conway, Farrell, Scannell, Sweetnam; Bleyendaal, Murray; Kilcoyne, Scannell, Archer, Kleyn, Beirne, O'Mahony (capt), Cloete, Stander.

Replacements: O'Byrne, O'Connor, J Ryan, Holland, Botha, Mathewson, Hanrahan, Goggin.

Benetton: Hayward; Tavuyara, Zanon, Morisi, Ioane; Allan (capt), Duvenage; Quaglio, Bigi, Riccioni, Lazzaroni, Ruzza, Negri, Steyn, Halafihi.

Replacements: Faiva, Appiah, Pasquali, Herbst, Budd, Tebaldi, Rizzi, Sgarbi.

Saracens beat Exeter 38-7 as the top two fielded under-strength sides.

Alex Lewington's try gave Sarries a 30th-minute lead as he fortuitously caught a kick that arched back in the strong wind and went over unchallenged.

Sarries got two tries within the first five minutes of the restart - Lewington with a second and Nick Tompkins going over after Nick Skelton's run.

Richard Capstick's try reduced the gap before Tom Whiteley's penalty and a Dom Morris double sealed the bonus point.

Exeter remain top of the table, but their hopes of breaking Saracens' record haul of 87 points set five years ago were dashed.

The Chiefs will end the season on top if they can win their final game of the season against play-off chasing Northampton, while Saracens face Harlequins - who are also eyeing up fourth place - on the final day.

Saracens made 11 changes ahead of next week's Champions Cup final while Exeter made 12 in what many believe will be a rehearsal for next month's Premiership final.

But while Saracens will have bragging rights, little can be drawn into an encounter which was often disjointed.

Exeter will be worried that they failed to impress for a second week, after staggering to victory over Harlequins seven days earlier as they made multiple handling errors and missed kicks to touch.

Lewington's second try took advantage of a defensive lapse before Tompkins went in after Skelton pulverised the Exeter line with a strong run which sent Gareth Steenson flying.

Exeter did have chances to get back into it, but Saracens' defence remained solid until Capstick finally breached it from close range to mark his first Premiership start with a try.

But Saracens kept control - Dom Morris scoring twice on his Premiership debut, the second a 75m run after intercepting Max Bodilly's pass.

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall:

"We wanted some momentum as a club and there's a good buzz around the place at the moment.

"But they rested their best team and we rested our XV for next week, so this game was unimportant if we play again."

Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter:

"We took some important things out of this. It has given us a view on some players and we've rested and hopefully cleared up a few niggles. But I'd have liked us to have performed better.

"There's always the psychological damage of a result like this, but there's also the reality of knowing that we have to be good and that tends to bring out the best out in us.

"We don't have to be the best Exeter Chiefs at the moment. We finished top last season and it didn't win us anything. Two years ago we finished second and we won the Premiership."

Saracens: Gallagher; Segun, Bosch, Tompkins, Lewington; Malins, Wigglesworth (capt); Barrington, Gray, Koch, Isiekwe, Skelton, Clark, Burger, Earl.

Replacements: Woolstencroft, Thompson-Stringer, Judge, Day, Reffell, Whiteley, Vunipola, Morris.

Exeter: Dollman; O'Flaherty, Bodilly, Whitten, Cuthbert; Steenson (capt), J Maunder; Moon, Cowan-Dickie, Francis, Atkins, Caulfield, Lonsdale, Capstick, Lawday.

Replacements: Taione, Keast, Street, Salmon, Kaufusi, S Maunder, Simmonds, Hendrickson.

Referee: Ian Tempest.

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Northampton regained possession of the final play-off place with a comfortable bonus-point victory against Worcester.

Taqele Naiyaravoro's brace and tries from Luther Burrell and Tom Wood had Saints 28-10 ahead by half-time.

Reece Marshall added a fifth try on the hour while Dan Biggar notched 13 points in a faultless kicking display.

England centre Ben Te'o was the only Warriors player to cross as Northampton moved a point ahead of fifth-placed Harlequins with a game to play.

Saints travel to Exeter in the final round of the regular season on 18 May while Quins are at Wasps, who could still be chasing points for a top-six finish.

It was the perfect start to Burrell's Franklin's Gardens swansong as he scored the opening try just four minutes in, bursting through Worcester's line from 30 metres out.

The former Sale and England centre, 31, will switch codes and join Super League club Warrington Wolves in July.

Naiyaravoro capped off a dominant first quarter for Saints with the second try as he capitalised on a loose pass out left to pick apart a disjointed Worcester defence.

Worcester's problems mounted when Francois Hougaard was sin-binned for killing the ball on the floor and Naiyaravoro was on the scoresheet again within minutes to pounce on the numerical advantage.

Wood then notched the bonus-point score five minutes later from close range as Northampton's ascendancy continued.

But Worcester did finish the half on a positive as Te'o crashed over from Jono Lance's offload to narrow the deficit.

But it was a scrappy second period for both sides. Marshall's score from a rolling maul was the only moment of composure as Saints registered a third successive Premiership win for the first time since September 2017.

Northampton winger Taqele Naiyaravoro told BBC Radio Northampton:

"We came out of the blocks really well in the first half and gave some guys a tremendous send off in their last home game this season.

"We spoke about Worcester a lot this week how they could be dangerous with freedom to play, so we'd prepared to take that first 20 minutes away from them.

"We did and from there it was just a case of keeping our feet on their throats and thankfully that's how it went."

Worcester director of rugby Alan Solomons told BBC Hereford & Worcester:

"Firstly you've got to give credit to Northampton, they played really, really well and thoroughly deserved their win.

"The first half was extremely disruptive where we had three head injury assessments, which didn't return and then we lost Francois Hougaard to the sin-bin.

"We did well to get the try towards the break and second half I thought we shored-up tremendously and the lads that came on made a difference.

"We were just on the back foot after that first half."

Northampton: Tuala; Collins, Hutchinson, Burrell, Naiyaravoro; Biggar, Reinach; Waller (capt), Marshall, Franks, Coles, Lawes, Gibson, Wood, Harrison.

Replacements: Ma'asi, Van Wyk, Hill, Onojaife, Ludlam, Mitchell, Francis, Pisi.

Worcester: Pennell; Humphreys, Venter, Te'o, Adams; Weir, Hougaard; Waller, Annett, Schonert, Bresler, Barry, Du Preez, Lewis, Van Velze (capt).

Replacements: Singleton, Black, Milasinovich, Fatialofa Kitchener, Hill, Heaney, Lance.

Sin-bin: Hougaard (25 mins).

Referee: Christophe Ridley.

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Newcastle's relegation from the Premiership was confirmed with a 28-19 defeat at Gloucester.

The Falcons needed maximum points at Kingsholm to have any chance of survival after Leicester's bonus point at Harlequins on Friday.

Gloucester ran in four tries from Jason Woodward, Danny Cipriani, Charlie Sharples and Matt Banahan.

Newcastle's tries came from Michael Young, Sinoti Sinoti and George McGuigan.

Newcastle will stand by director of rugby Dean Richards and "are confident of a return to the Premiership within a year".

The club said: "We remain fully committed to our playing and coaching staff as well as continued investment in our academy, which continues to produce a steady stream of talented local players."

Gloucester dominated the first half and spent long periods in Newcastle territory, turning down a series of kickable penalties before being rewarded with tries from Woodward, Cipriani and Sharples.

Cipriani, in particular, impressed, passing for Woodward's touchdown and then creating space for his own score.

Newcastle only had themselves to blame, playing 20 minutes of the first period with 14 men as first skipper Toby Flood and then second-row Calum Green were sent to the sin-bin.

Newcastle's only two forays into the Gloucester half in the first period resulted in tries for Young - following a powerful break through midfield from Alex Dunbar - and Samoa winger Sinoti off the back of a driving maul as they trailed by nine at the break.

Newcastle dominated the first quarter after the break - helped in part when Lewis Ludlow was yellow-carded - and scored their third try through McGuigan on his debut.

But as the Falcons chased the all-important fourth try and the lead, Banahan intercepted Nemani Nagusa's pass for a length-of-the-field try to all but end Newcastle hopes with a quarter of the game left.

Newcastle will now drop into the Championship after six seasons in the top flight, their place taken by London Irish.

The win for Gloucester confirmed third place in the table and a play-off semi-final against Exeter or Saracens.

Newcastle director of rugby Dean Richards told BBC Radio 5 Live:

"We gave everything, but it was there for the taking. Had we been more accurate it would have been a different game.

"There hasn't been much difference from last year [when they reached the top 4] - the bounce of a ball, a referee's call, it's small differences.

"The games we won last year by a few points we've lost by a few points this year.

"Some [players] will go, some will stay. Some have ambitions to play at a higher level and I completely respect that. That's life unfortunately. We'll resolve those points in the next week."

Gloucester head coach Johan Ackermann:

"We knew what to expect as they were a desperate side, who needed five points. We began well but couldn't convert the pressure and gave away a breakaway try.

"We were never at our best and defensively we switched off in a scrappy game.

"I don't want to be harsh on the boys but as we had already qualified for Europe and the play-offs, there wasn't the challenge for them to excel although I'm tremendously proud of the effort they put in.

Gloucester: Woodward; Sharples, Twelvetrees, Atkinson, Banahan; Cipriani, Braley; Hohneck, Marais, Balmain, Slater, Mostert, Ackermann, Kriel, Morgan (capt).

Replacements: Sherry, Rapava Ruskin, Dreyer, Ludlow, Polledri, Vellacott, Evans, Purdy.

Newcastle: Tait; Kibirige, Dunbar, Williams, Sinoti; Flood (capt), Young; Mulipola, McGuigan, Ah You, Green, Robinson, Chick, Graham, Nagusa.

Replacements: Socino, Lockwood, Davison, Witty, Blamire, Stuart, Swiel, Wacokecoke.

Referee: Tom Foley.

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