Shaun Edwards, the London Wasps head coach, is convinced that travelling to Leicester on Friday night is the perfect test for his winless players.

A 24-20 reverse at Northampton was the third defeat in a row for the reigning Guinness Premiership champions and they could lose England forward James Haskell and lock Richard Birkett if both are found guilty of foul play and banned at today's RFU disciplinary hearing.

Despite the defeats, Edwards is up for the battle with Leicester and said: "Last season we had just one win from our first six matches. We are not happy with the start and we continue to shoot ourselves in the foot, conceding tries through our own errors.

"But going to Leicester on Friday will certainly concentrate minds at the club this week."

Saracens ended their own losing run with an emphatic 44-14 home win over Newcastle. Glen Jackson kicked 17 points with left-wing Kameli Ratuvou, Kevin Sorrell, Hugh Vyvyan, Rod Penney and Gordon Ross touching down.

Eddie Jones, the Sarries director of rugby, was a happy man and said: "We want to be a side that can play at the highest level and to do that you have to be robust."

Dean Richards, the Harlequins director of rugby, is too seek clarification from referee chiefs today over the handling of his team's 24-20 defeat at Gloucester.

Gloucester head coach Dean Ryan spoke to the referee at half time and the second half featured a series of penalties against Quins which had a dramatic effect.

Richards said: "If [speaking to the ref] that's what it takes then I'm going to start doing it.

"It cost us last year and I would imagine that it cost a lot of people when they come down to Kingsholm because in the second half the referee would bottle it."

Toby Booth, the London Irish director of rugby, had to reflect on six missed kicks as the team lost 16-20 at home to Bath.

He said: "The boys will be working hard to make sure their [kicking] percentages are much better in the next match."

Meanwhile, the Help for Heroes charity match at Twickenham saw 53,000 fans attend, raising more than £1million for injured service personnel.