A club-record crowd of 30,174 witnessed Newcastle Falcons win at St James' Park as Toby Flood kicked 20 points against Northampton.
As coaching changes continue at London Irish, director of rugby Nick Kennedy has left the club.
World-Cup winner Ben Franks will join Northampton Saints for a new era under Chris Boyd next season.
Having enjoyed major success with Ireland, Declan Kidney and Les Kiss will team up at Premiership strugglers London Irish.
Exeter Chiefs boosted their Premiership title defence with a victory over Saracens that saw the beaten side fall to third in the table.
Saracens fell victim to a tremendous Leicester Tigers performance on Sunday, while there was a rare win for London Irish against Worcester.