AFTER Otley's heroic defeat of the Cornish Pirates had unlocked the door to the top of the table, Leeds did not so much storm through it as tiptoe over the threshold yesterday.
The Tykes did enough to record a sixth successive bonus-point victory at London Welsh yesterday and lead the division for the first time, but it was not a title-winning performance.
The visitors, who moved two points clear of Plymouth and Rotherham, were nowhere near the levels of professionalism and control they had shown when "nilling" Coventry the previous week. Although their five-point haul was secured with a penalty try shortly after the interval, there were elements of good fortune in each of their first four tries and they relaxed to an extent that they were outscored
15-14 in the second half.
"It wasn't pretty by any stretch of the imagination," said director of rugby Stuart Lancaster, who admitted that Otley's victory over the erstwhile leaders might have been a distraction.
"We're delighted to come away with five points but in terms of performance, we're going to have to be better than that.
"We didn't really create our three first-half tries. We need to be better at building our phases."
Lancaster repeated his assertion that the Old Deer Park was such a "tough place to come" but the Exiles have now lost all six of their home games this season.
They won at Leeds on the opening day of the season but they are a part-time outfit beset by injury problems. The Tykes should really be sweeping them aside, even on a marsh-like pitch like this one and even without their first-choice props, who had both succumbed to niggles.
Instead, they had to absorb 20 minutes of pressure, during which their spirited hosts kicked a penalty.
The scoring pass for Leeds's first try should have been intercepted, and Richard Welding must still be wondering how he got through after running into a clutch of tacklers who stopped him and then let him run on.
The second came from an interception near their own line, with lock Pablo Bouza marching clear and hoofing the ball downfield; at least, it looked initially like a hoof but it turned out to be a through-kick of cunning and delicacy as Leigh Hinton raced past the cover to hack on and score.
Bouza's act though, was eclipsed as the most unlikely contribution from a second-row when replacement Kearnan Myall showed astonishing pace in chasing down wing Alex Cadwallader from yet another interception, gaining 15 yards on him and saving a certain try.
"Probably the highlight of the game," purred Lancaster of his 19-year-old. "He's a great athlete. I can't think of any other second-row apart from (England's) Tom Palmer who could have done that."
Bouza himself scored the third try, another slightly messy affair. A 24-3 half-time scoreline was highly flattering to Leeds, who had been untidy in possession and ill-disciplined in defence, although the referee's control of the breakdown perplexed most onlookers.
Lancaster tactfully attributed a furious second-half brawl – in which at least five Leeds players landed blows of which Sonny Liston would have been proud – to "frustration around the contact area". The hosts are muttering about checking the video and possibly citing Tykes players.
London Welsh scored tries from Richard Griffith and Peter Clarke, either side of Andy Tuilagi's effort for Leeds, and would have had another had Sam Ulph not dropped the ball over the line.
Their coach Martin Jones, though, was fairly impressed with the visitors.
"They're appreciably better than they were last time," he said, rather damning them with faint praise. "They've got some class and they've shown they can do it on the road. Whether they've got enough to remain in the Premiership is open to debate, but they can just buy another squad."

London Welsh: Ulph; Arasa (Swords 63), Storey, Hayward, Cadwallader; Marks (Cholewa 70), Walbyoff (Fury 58); Williams, Campbell (Baker 70), Hannon (Millard 58); Ayling (Beard 40), Slade; McNamee (Beard 22-33, Clarke 58), Anayi, Griffith.
Leeds Tykes: Hinton; Welding, T Rock, Hepworth (Tuilagi 47), Holtby; Vasey, Edwards (Rauluni 53); McGee (Paul 66), Rawlinson (Parkes 75), Cusack; Bouza (Myall 58), Hooper; Dunbar (Schusterman 58), Lock (Bryan 66), Oakley.
Referee: G Garner (RFU)
Scorers – London Welsh: Tries; Griffith, Clarke; con: Ulph; pens: Ulph 2
Leeds Tykes: Tries: Welding, Hinton, Bouza, penalty, Tuilagi; cons: Hinton 5; pen: Hinton.