Leeds Carnegie v Northampton Saints : Target set as Leeds strive to survive relegation battle

NEIL BACK says he has set his side a survival points target, but will not be revealing to the rest of the league how many wins he believes his team will need.

Leeds Carnegie are embroiled in a three-way fight to stay among the sport's elite, a scenario that did not seem possible two months ago.

But three straight wins in February and early March have seen the Yorkshire club haul Sale and Worcester into a perilous position and with five games to go, the England World Cup winner is confident his side will be one of those to prevail.

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And although Leeds's impressive run of form came to an end at Kingsholm last week, the club's head coach believes the target he has set his players is well within their capabilities.

"As a group we know what we need to do to stay in this competition," said Back, whose side picked up points in 10 of 11 Premiership games, a sequence book-ended by two point-less defeats against last week's conquerors Gloucester.

"We believe we can win every game, and while I don't think that will be necessary, we will be going into every game thinking we can win it.

"We have set a target but that's for us to concentrate on internally."

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While Leeds face Northampton today, Sale struck a blow for their surival hopes by beating relegation rivals Worcester 17-3 at Edgeley Park last night, taking them four points clear of Leeds.

"We just have to concentrate on what we do and if we pick up more points than Worcester and Sale then it's good news," said Back, whose side look to build on their recent home renaissance against the title-chasing Saints today.

Leeds had not won at Headingley Carnegie in seven attempts in the league before their win over Wasps in February which was swiftly followed by victory over Saracens seven days later.

And with Worcester still to visit Headingley in the final home game of the season, Back knows better than most how important it was to get the home monkey off their backs.

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He said: "Most sides have got a better home record than they have away and it was important for us that we got that win.

"We made certain changes to how we played at home that we have adapted in subsequent games, and hopefully that will work for us going into the next games."

Northampton head to Yorkshire still gunning for a trophy treble following their recent triumph in the LV= Anglo-Welsh Cup.

They are second in the league and also face a Heineken Cup quarter-final at Munster next Saturday, not that Back expects Halifax-born former Old Crossleyans and Roundhay full-back Jim Mallinder to have anything less than his full attention on today's game.

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"They won't be distracted today, they need to put in a good performance and they'll want to go into the Heineken Cup game on the back of a win that gives them confidence," said Back.

"Northampton look very good at the moment. The core of that squad has been together for a number of years.

"They are sharp in the offload, are good in the contact area, have a good set-piece and are they are playing with a lot of confidence.

"It's a game we can win. We have looked into their areas of weakness and have seen where we think we might be able to exploit."

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Leeds will make just the one change to their starting line up with Samoan international Alfie To'oala starting at No 8 in place of Rhys Oakley who is among the replacements.

Scott Mathie retains his place at scrum-half whil young fly-half Joe Ford is back in the replacements after missing last week's defeat at Gloucester with a back injury.

Northampton must put their bitter public feud aside with Saracens regarding prop Soane Tonga'uhia by the time they arrive at Headingley.

Northampton announced a new three-year deal for the Tongan on Thursday but Premier Rugby, the administrative body for England's top-flight clubs, intend staging a mediation meeting between the warring parties next week and have asked both clubs for reports.

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Tonga'uhia is on the bench against Leeds, with Saints knowing they could replace Leicester at the Premiership summit by winning in Yorkshire and Bath toppling the Tigers.

"Leeds have beaten some good teams at home in the past month," said Northampton rugby director Jim Mallinder, who has replaced Tonga'uhia at loosehead with Brian Mujati. There are also starts for centre Joe Ansbro and fly-half Stephen Myler.

"Leeds have a solid core of experience and some good young talent," added Mallinder.

"They will certainly ask us plenty of questions.

"We did not reach the standards we set ourselves against Wasps last weekend.

"All of the players have worked hard in training to try to get us back to the form of previous weeks."