And now for something completely different!

Carnegie won in London last weekend and, in my opinion, the result was never in doubt after Oli Goss crossed for the second try and Joe Ford popped over the extras from out wide. So what I hear you thinking?

Well the one thing that has eluded us over the last 15 months is consistency. We have, on occasions, played superb rugby. More often than not this has been followed by abject rubbish. Diccon Edwards has selected almost the same team for the game against Moseley and for this he is to be applauded. Now it is up to the players to put in another solid performance and deliver a second win away from Headingley. Winning on the road is a good habit to get into.

We are not the only team to be inconsistent, Bristol and Pirates are equally guilty. However we now have a chance to get into our stride and put down a marker for the teams below us in the league. Now that would make a refreshing change!

Time to Raise our Expectations.

The autumn has, so far , been quite horrid for Tykes fans, until last weekend when the pups were unleashed at Bedford . They came away from Goldington Road with all five points, bucket loads of kudos and a much needed boost to their collective self confidence.

This must now be taken forward into the Nottingham game! It is not unreasonable for us to expect a degree of consistency, game on game. Despite the fact that we have won four consecutive fixtures the home games have been flakey performances to put it mildly.

Our senior squad players seem to be bearing the brunt of the injuries at the moment so it is down to the youngsters to shoulder the burden of performance. To me it seems that they are up to the task. Tomorrow's team has enough about it to see off Nottingham. I expect to see an improved performance and a place in the top half of the table by Xmas.

The Season Started Yesterday.

Leeds managed an away win down at London Scottish yesterday just after England's world cup dreams were trampled into the New Zealand dirt by the rampant French. Do I feel sad? No, I feel relieved that our season has finally started, albeit with lowered expectations and we have the prospect of back-to-back wins to look forward to if we can overcome Moseley at HC next Sunday. We also had the big plus of Mike MacDonald returning with a forceful second half performance. Perhaps now our scrummaging will improve - always a good sign of better things to come.

Looking at the Championship table I can see us getting up to about 5th or 6th by Christmas. By that time many of the kids will have found their feet in this tough division and we will be in a better position for the play-offs. Bring it on!