Fourie and Thompson available for Leeds’s next task

Back is desperate for a slice of good fortune following the damaging defeat to Newcastle on Sunday that left them seven points adrift of the Falcons and staring relegation in the face.

So the return of Hendre Fourie and Steve Thompson is a welcome positive for the embattled Headingley club.

Fourie and Thompson were second-half replacements as England defeated France at Twickenham last Saturday to continue their march towards the grand slam, with Thompson’s appearance drawing him level with Brian Moore as the most capped hooker in Red Rose history.

With England off this weekend, Johnson has released a selection of players while keeping the majority of his matchday 22 – including Otley-born captain Mike Tindall – in camp ahead of their final games against Scotland and Ireland.

Leeds lacked the strength of such as Fourie and Thompson in their pack against Newcastle, and the return of two influential players so early in the build-up to Sunday’s visit of inconsistent London Irish will give them extra heart to defy the odds against Toby Booth’s side.

“Because it’s a fallow week they will be available,” confirmed Back, who had Thompson available for the defeat at Saracens nine days ago, but only as a late release from the England squad.

“They were here on Sunday supporting the squad and they are desperate to be involved. It’s a big positive for us next week.

“It’s also a lot better getting them at the start of the week, rather than at the end when you can’t do as much preparation with them.”

Back maintained his cool in the aftermath of such a damaging defeat to Newcastle 48 hours ago that stacked the odds against them in their battle to avoid relegation.

He maintained his unwavering belief in the effort of his players, although he did call into question their talents.

He said: “You couldn’t question the guys’ commitment; looking at the stats we made 19 handling errors, some of them forced, some unforced.

“That’s too many to make in a Premiership game, it allowed their half-backs to control territory and field position and were able to build a score, so you’ve got to give them credit for that.

“Some of those errors were through good pressure on their part, others through us being not good enough on the night, and that doesn’t reflect well on Leeds Carnagie.

“Everything we wanted to do in terms of building and maintaining, sustaining pressure, we didn’t do.”

They also presented Falcons fly-half Jimmy Gopperth with four penalties that he gratefully accepted, three of which came from scrum infringements.

Back continued: “The scrum was also a bit of an issue as well, there was a lot of scrutiny on Phil Swainston, our tighthead.

“Maybe the officials should have been looking at the other side of the scrum, I thought their tighthead was all over Mike MacDonald’s arm and that was a penalty, and they didn’t see it that way.

“It could have been called differently and that would certainly have helped us, but it didn’t and we’ve got to live with it.

“Ultimately if we fail it won’t be through lack of effort, it will be because we’re not good enough.

“You can look in the mirror and accept that – it’s when you lack effort that you can’t.

“We didn’t lack effort, just at times we weren’t bright and made too many mistakes and you can’t do that in the Premiership.

“I still believe, perhaps foolishly, that whatever Premiership opposition we take on, we can win.

“London Irish is our next challenge and our focus has already moved to that.”

There were few positives as Leeds lost such a key game, but the one encouraging sign was a try for Academy-product Scott Freer, the 22-year-old having come off the bench in the second half.

Back said: “Scott Freer has been injured and worked incredibly hard to get fit. We’ve introduced him the last couple of games, he’s come through the Academy, he has a bright future.

“He’s strong, a good scrummager. He needs to develop in the lineout but really pleased with his contribution against Newcastle, and good for him to get over.”

Meanwhile, Johnson has kept 20 players in the England camp this week.

The squad have moved from the Bagshot headquarters to a new training base in Oxfordshire ahead of the penultimate Six Nations Test against Scotland in Twickenham.

Players in England’s training camp in Oxford this week: Chris Ashton (Northampton), Danny Care (Harlequins), Dan Cole (Leicester), Alex Corbisiero (London Irish), Mark Cueto (Sale), Louis Deacon (Leicester), Paul Doran-Jones (Gloucester), Nick Easter (Harlequins), Shontayne Hape (Bath), Dylan Hartley (Northampton), James Haskell (Stade Francais), Toby Flood (Leicester), Ben Foden (Northampton), Tom Palmer (Stade Francais), Simon Shaw (Wasps), Andrew Sheridan (Sale), Mike Tindall (Gloucester), Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon), Tom Wood (Northampton), Ben Youngs (Leicester).