Leeds Carnegie's win gives the big clubs cause for concern

ARE Worcester too good to go down? Surely Sale are, with World Cup winner Ben Cohen on the wing and Dwayne Peel and Charlie Hodgson calling the shots.

What of Gloucester? Yes they've had uncertainty on and off the pitch but they are an established power in the Premiership, this must just be a blip.

And Harlequins, Newcastle and Bath are safe aren't they? They have to be. They're big teams with big reputations.

It is the question being asked in clubhouses and dressing rooms up and down the country, from Sixways to Kingsholm, Edgeley Park to Twickenham Stoop – and no doubt across the A316 at RFU headquarters.

And yet the only answer to the question of whether these established names are safe from the ignominy of relegation from the safe-haven of the Guinness Premiership, is that they most certainly are not – not while Leeds Carnegie continue to chip away at their points advantage and defy the odds.

On Friday night, the Yorkshire club continued to keep the white flag under the seats as they produced their most committed and enterprising performance for some time to secure a first win over Sale after 17 previous failures, and a third league triumph of the season.

It was a victory that – aided by Worcester's heavy 37-13 defeat at Bath on Saturday – moved them to within a point of the Warriors in the battle to avoid demotion to the Championship.

Sale are also within reach on 23 points, four ahead of Leeds, while Gloucester, Quins and Newcastle will all be looking nervously over their shoulders at the upstarts from West Yorkshire.

Bath, whose victory over Leeds on January 2, got them moving back up the table, have probably now done enough.

Leeds have been at the foot of the table since the third weekend of the season, when they were thrashed 56-7 by London Irish.

Such a mis-match has only been repeated once, when they were convincingly brushed aside in the second half at reigning champions Leicester Tigers, but other than those two, Leeds have been in contention in every one of their 14 matches.

Indeed, of their last nine games, they have taken points in eight, winning three.

"We as a management team, the players and the club have never stopped believing, we've always known the quality of the squad," said Leeds' director of rugby Andy Key on Friday night.

"We can't influence what the other teams do. All we've been doing is concentrating on ourselves.

"What we can hope is that what we are doing on the pitch, and with the reports that are going back, starts putting pressure on other teams.

"We've taken something from every game, over the last few weeks because we know we've been getting closer and closer to the sort of performance that will get us consistent wins.

"Against Sale we produced a competent performance for 80 minutes.

"Our performance in all areas, our tactics, and the way we went into the game, was exactly what we asked of the boys."

Leeds have been chipping away at the teams above them for weeks, refusing to surrender to a third relegation in five years.

They have earned three marvellous wins at Wasps, Newcastle and now Sale.

The only thing missing is a victory at Headingley Carnegie, where they find themselves over the next two Sundays against Saracens and first Wasps.

A potentially decisive game in the survival run-in will be when Worcester visit Leeds on Sunday, April 25, by which time they will want to have got the home-win monkey off their back.

However, as always, the mantra of Key and head coach Neil Back is 'one game at a time'.

"Our points target is four points from every game," said Key. "We knew we'd got three games at home and one away out of this four-game period.

"Out of the 10 points that were available we've got five, and that's brilliant. If we can take another five, if not eight, then that will be well on par for what we need."

Friday's 19-10 win at Sale, thanks to a combination of guts and guile, will have all the teams above them taking note.

Not least the performance of Ceiron Thomas, the Wales fly-half, who has been growing into the role – often pivotal in the Premiership – after a nervy start following his arrival from Llanelli last summer.

His all-round contribution was epitomised early on when he cut 21-stone Eifion Roberts in two with a scything tackle just metres from the try-line.

"To see your No 10 come across and take a guy of that size by the knees was outstanding," said Key.

"He's been putting down a strong marker recently and from a kicking point of view he hasn't really missed.

"His performance out of hand is getting better and they're the sort of things we've been quite strongly critical about because accuracy is so important as it enables you to put pressure on opponents.

"He's been working hard on that and the last couple of games that has been a key tactic we've employed to get territorial advantage.

"The break he made to set up Scott Mathie's try is one of those aspects where Ceiron is growing in confidence, and he is also recognising that part of being a good fly-half is making the breaks himself. His all-round performance was really good."