Leicester hit Northampton for six as league leaders crumble in fiery derby

• Leicester 41-17 Northampton

• Freddie Steward caps six-try victory for hosts

You can play all the fancy rugby you want, you can be recent champions leading the table with only a few matches to play, but certain elemental truths still apply. One of them is that if you find yourself overpowered up front away from home in a sold-out East Midlands derby, you will be blown away.

Northampton could have secured a place in the playoffs here if they had won with a bonus point, but they did not even come close. Amid a ferocious atmosphere, records tumbled as Leicester claimed the bonus-point win to move within one point of Bath, who play Exeter on Sunday, and five shy of Saints.