Thomas's absence proves costly as French battle back

Key and head coach Neil Back rested fly-half and goal-kicker Ceiron Thomas with Friday's return to Premiership action against Sale, and the need to get off the foot of the table, firmly in mind.

And they paid the price as three Leeds players missed 13 points between them as Stade Francais staged a second-half fightback to secure a nine-point victory, 22-13.

The otherwise excellent Luther Burrell, Warren Fury and Thomas himself late on, at the cost of a losing bonus point, were all off target as the fading French club seized control of Amlin Challenge Cup Pool Four.

Key attributed the selection decision to the need to get the returning Lachlan Mackay some game time and said: "With the size of our squad and the short turnaround this week we have to take that decision as coaches.

"The Premiership is the most important competition for us.

"We know that in the first half Ceiron Thomas as a natural kicker in there could have given us a 17-point lead.

"But Luther Burrell has been developing well and his line kicking was very, very good."

Conversely, Martin Rodriguez kicked 17 points for the Parisian visitors who managed only one try against a superb Leeds defence.

Despite the inaccuracy with the boot, Leeds produced one of their best performances of the season, at last combining their robust defence with a more enterprising offence.

Time and again they broke French resistance with Burrell, James Tincknell, Henry Fa'afili, Lee Blackett and Michael Stephenson all contributing exciting bursts.

"On reflection the kicking was a decisive factor, but we are going to take the real positives out of it," said Key.

"We have gone and taken on one of the best sides in Europe and shown them what Leeds Carnegie are all about.

"We put them under a lot of pressure and executed a lot of line breaks. The frustrating thing is we didn't turn that into points.

"We have beaten Stade Francais two tries to one and we are going in the right direction.

"We are now starting to put together a complete 80-minute performance.

"It's the best 40-minute we have put together, and we all said that at half-time. But we knew Stade Francais wouldn't sit back in the second half. They have come here to win and do so in a particular way.

"Unfortunately we gave them the opportunity by conceding some sloppy penalties in dangerous areas."

Leeds now head into back-to-back Premiership home games against Sale and Wasps buoyed by a two-week European break that – as happened last year – has strengthened their morale.

"It was an opportunity to get our first home win and send a massive message out there to the public as well as the media of where we are going," added Key.

"We will reflect on the positives as well as a bit of soul-searching to see where we are going.

"While we're feeling a little frustrated right now we are also full of confidence."