London Irish v Leeds Carnegie: Leeds hoping soul-searching session can spark their revival

Leeds Carnegie are four points adrift at the foot of the formative table after four straight defeats and face a daunting trip to leaders London Irish today before the domestic campaign takes a back seat to European competitions.

September ended with a 48-6 hammering at Leicester Tigers last Saturday, a game which saw Leeds concede eight tries to the reigning champions.

A catalogue of injuries and an opening schedule that saw Leeds face all of last year's top four in the opening five weeks have all contributed to the poor start.

However, Leeds's failings have primarily been of their own making, a factor that prompted Monday's soul-searching session.

"We were very honest with each other; we sat down, watched the game collectively and we were hard on each other," said director of rugby Key.

"Emotions are running extremely high in the aftermath of a game and while every single person from management to players was hugely disappointed, it was better to take stock and look at things from a clear perspective.

"The riot act is not called for. It's getting people to understand and recognise the mistakes being made. There's no better way of doing that than the player or players sticking their hands up and saying 'we can see where it's going wrong'.

"We needed that heart-to-heart on Monday, we needed that behind-closed-doors session where we could say 'come on, it's been four games, it's not that we've played badly but it's the mistakes we're making why we're getting thumped'.

"We appreciate what the errors are, we're working to rectify them and we'll see a different side going down to London Irish."

Eradicating errors is something Key, Neil Back and the coaching staff must leave in the hands of the players, but Key insists the hurt they suffered last week will be enough of a motivating factor today.

"The players appreciate that they've let themselves, Leeds Carnegie and Yorkshire down and it is not something they want to replicate," said Key who confirmed they will continue integrating a new attacking game plan despite the 17 tries conceded so far.

"We can see the areas quite clearly we need to work on and that started immediately after that in-house session.

"We're not helping ourselves by not finishing opportunites and allowing easy tries.

"We have to keep looking and reflecting on the positives, the stuff that is working well for us, and then start chipping away at the negatives.

"We believe massively in the game plan, in the style we want to play. It's about perseverance and patience. At some stage we know this side is going to click and when it does we're going to get some really big wins under our belt.

"The Leicester defeat was a kick up the bum and it sometimes takes that to shake you up. We have the ability as a squad to mentally review and get back on the bike."

After such a heavy defeat last week when Leicester made a mockery of Leeds's top-six ambitions, the danger at the Madejski Stadium this week is that a similarly poor opening to the game will result in players' heads dropping.

Key, though, remains adamant confidence was not shattered at Welford Road.

"The side understands there's going to be mistakes and they'll not get everything right," he said.

"The good thing is they believe in what they're doing, the belief remains that we are a good side because we know that when we get on the front foot we can cause, and have caused, huge problems for opponents in that top four.

"Nothing will phase us at Irish, whatever happens in the first five, 10 minutes. We're confident it will be us making the try-scoring start."

Leeds have made six changes to the side that suffered that heavy defeat against Leicester with the coaching duo revamping their pack.

Andy Titterrell starts in place of England hooker Steve Thompson, second-row Sean Hohneck comes in for his first start for the club in place of Tom Denton while Rhys Oakley makes way for blindside Kearnan Myall and No 8 Danny Paul starts for the first time this season.

In the backs, former Bradford Bulls star Semi Tadulala replaces Lee Blackett on the wing and there is a recall after injury for Luther Burrell at inside centre.

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