Leeds must now Stoop to conquer in survival battle

Harlequins away in the Premiership on Saturday is followed by a four-week European and Anglo-Welsh sabbatical.

Then Neil Back and Andy Key welcome their former employers, Leicester Tigers, to Headingley at the start of a four-week spell that could shape their destiny.

A Friday night trip to face Sale followed by back-to-back home games with Wasps and leaders Saracens come before the middle of March.

Include games against Northampton and London Irish in the closing months of the Premiership season and soon it dawns just how big a missed opportunity last Saturday's defeat to Bath really was for Leeds Carnegie.

Searching for the positives following that demoralising five-point reverse when Leeds failed to win and climb above their opponents and off the foot of the Premiership table, Back observed that there are still 50 points to play for.

Leeds may only need half of those to survive, which would take them up to 39 points and a total that has never resulted in relegation in the Premiership's history.

Whether they get that, though, is another matter.

Of their 10 remaining games, four are against sides who are realistically still in danger of being the one team demoted to the Championship – Sale next month, Gloucester at the end of March, and Worcester and Bath in the final two games of the season, by which time their fate may already be sealed judging by the difficulty of the fixtures prior to that period.

Harlequins will be in reach if Leeds can pull off a shock on Saturday, one akin to the breakthrough win they earned in October.

Such a victory, coupled with the one at Newcastle 10 days ago, demonstrated that Leeds have the ability and the character to upset the odds and beat the big teams.

Away from home, their spoiling tactics come to fruition, shutting down opponents and grinding out results.

At home, when the onus is on them to attack and make the running, they have struggled to produce enough try-scoring opportunities, with the exception of the first half against Sale when they raced into a lead they could not hold on to.

No win at Headingley all season in the league and no Premiership home victory since March 2008 underlines why Leeds have failed to consolidate their Premiership status.

Northampton were a lot stronger when they returned to the top flight last season after their one-year exile but they re-established themselves comfortably among the game's elite and won the European Challenge Cup on the strength of their form at Franklin's Gardens.

Aside from their lack of confidence at home, it should not be forgotten that Leeds are by no means being brushed aside this season, as they were two years ago when they bounced in and out of the top flight with just two wins.

Only in the defeats to London Irish and at Northampton and Leicester Tigers have they played opposition who highlighted the gulf in budget, talent and experience.

In nine of their 12 games, Leeds have competed feverishly thanks to their sheer determination, growing belief and the mentality instilled into them by the management duo of Back and Key.

Points have been won in six of the last seven games and they continue to be looked upon warily by the sides who occupy positions in the bottom half.

They have punched above their weight but will need to throw the jabs even more furiously in the closing 10 games if they are to achieve their goal and open up the full allocation of funding promised to them at the start of the season by Premier Rugby. That financial boost really would help establish them among the elite next time.

Until then, they must continue playing to their strengths and picking up points where they can.

A diet of bonus points will not be sufficient; Leeds may need another four wins to climb out of trouble in what, fortunately for them, is still a pretty congested bottom half of the table.

The fact that tries are in short supply in the Premiership this season is also in their favour. It could come down to how few they concede rather than how many they score. Encouragingly, Michael Stephenson's decisive try on Saturday was the only time their whitewash was breached during the two pivotal festive fixtures.

A four-week break when focus shifts to trying to qualify for the last eight of the Amlin Challenge Cup and blooding Academy products in the LV Cup, increases the importance on Saturday's fixture at Harlequins.

A defeat without a bonus point at Twickenham Stoop will make for a long month to reflect on what might have been and how arduous the journey still to be taken could prove.

10 KEY GAMES

LEEDS'S RUN-IN:

Sat Jan 9 Harlequins A

Sun Feb 14 Leicester H

Fri Feb 19 Sale A

Sun Feb 28 Wasps H

Sun Mar 7 Saracens H

Sat Mar 27 Gloucester A

Sat Apr 3 Northampton H

Sun Apr 18 London Irish A

Sun Apr 25 Worcester H

Sat May 8 Bath A

How things stand

P W D L F A B Pts

Saracens 12 9 1 2 216 172 2 40

Northampton 12 9 0 3 263 191 3 39

London Irish 12 7 2 3 264 154 5 37

Leicester 12 7 1 4 246 160 6 36

Wasps 11 7 0 4 203 173 3 31

Newcastle 12 4 3 5 167 184 3 25

Harlequins 12 4 2 6 216 246 4 24

Sale 11 4 1 6 177 212 3 21

Gloucester 12 4 1 7 206 258 3 21

Bath 12 3 2 7 172 191 4 20

Worcester 12 2 4 6 169 206 3 19

Leeds 12 2 1 9 154 306 4 14