Leeds Carnegie 17 Sale Sharks 23: Leeds looking for positives as bad start proves costly

Leeds Carnegie will be hoping for a similar scenario from this encounter, and how desperately they need it.

Despite their best efforts in the second half yesterday after allowing their cross-Pennine rivals to take a 14-point lead at the break, Leeds slipped to their ninth defeat in domestic competition this season.

The last time they won against British opposition was against Worcester in April, when they survived in the Premiership at the expense of their then opponents.

Exeter, the team who replaced Worcester, are next up for Leeds as the battle to avoid relegation continues at Sandy Park this coming Saturday.

Gaining momentum out of this two-week break was all the LV Cup campaign boiled down to for Andy Key and Neil Back, but after suffering defeats now to Llanelli Scarlets and Sale, the question for Leeds is what, if any, momentum do they take into the forthcoming Premiership fixtures?

"We can take some momentum, it doesn't matter what level you're playing at, there will always be positives to take," insisted Key whose side's tries through Scott Barrow and Scott Mathie came too late to turn the tide started by Sale's Sean Cox and Rhys Crane.

"For us it was important to get a performance in the second half, one that we're confident and proud of to take into the Exeter game next week. And we did that.

"I just wish I had the answers for why we started so badly, because we massively let ourselves down in the first half."

With that tricky trip to Exeter in mind, Leeds again went with a team that pointed to an Academy system they are rightly proud of.

James Craig and Jacob Rowan were named among the forwards with Wharfedale recruit James Tincknell continuing in the centres and Peter Wackett coming in for a rare start on their wing.

Key did bolster the team that lost heavily in Wales last week with a smattering of first-team regulars, but one man who defied the nod to youth was James Parkes, who started at hooker.

With Steve Thompson on England duty and Andy Titterrell now out for at least five months after damaging his ACL ligament, Phil Nilsen is the next in line, but he only played the second half to be fresher for next week. That meant a 40-minute shift for Parkes, 30, who quit playing at Gloucester to pursue a coaching role at Headingley Carnegie, and had not featured competitively for Leeds – other than in the A League – since April 2008.

He was involved from the very start as a multi-phase move saw Leeds progress from their own 22 to set up a penalty for Christian Lewis-Pratt.

The visitors soon took charge, with Matty James orchestrating attacks that benefitted from well-positioned support runners. After Fergus Mulchrone was stopped by last-man Michael Stephenson, Sale took the lead when an attacking lineout sparked a powerful maul from which Cox scored.

James kicked the conversion, and after just 18 minutes the two teams had conspired to score more points than they managed in the entire 80 in that drab league encounter three weeks ago.

Leeds then attempted to set up a try-scoring position of their own when Lewis-Pratt opted to kick to the line instead of taking the three points on offer, but the lineout was lost and the chance missed.

Sale were swift in their punishment. Parkes, seemingly untroubled just inside his own half, dropped the ball straight into the hands of Rhys Crane who galloped through untouched; James extending the advantage to 14-3. In response, Leeds broke the gainline repeatedly through Daniel Browne and Danny Paul but the hard yards were rendered redundant when Lewis-Pratt twice missed straightforward penalties.

Leeds came out revitalised for the second period and Barrow blocked Will Addison's kick and dropped on the ball to score.

The kindling of a comeback had been lit, but Sale extinguished it with two further penalties for James. Wackett stormed through the centre and released Scott Mathie after he had been held up; Ceiron Thomas converting.

Leeds Carnegie: Stephenson, Blackett, Tinknell, Barrow, Wackett, Lewis-Pratt (Thomas 63), Fury (Mathie 56); Denman (Alonso 56), Parkes (Nilsen 40), Gomez (Swainston 34), Paul (Denton 50), Craig (Wentzel 22), Oakley, Rowan, Browne. Unused replacements: Hinton.

Sale Sharks: Macleod, Crane, Mulchrone (Tuilagi 74), Thornley, Addison, James, Peel (Cliff 10, Leck 74)); Imiolek (Croall 56), Roberts, Thomas (McIntyre 70), Jones, Cox, Brightwell, McMillan, Boko. Unused replacements: Briggs, Rouse, Hall.

Referee: T Wigglesworth (RFU).

Leeds: tries – Barrow, Mathie; cons – Lewis-Pratt, Thomas; pens – Lewis-Pratt.

Sale: tries – Cox, Cran; cons – James 2; pens – James 3.