Leeds Carnegie v Sale Sharks Sunday 30th December 3pm
Current Form
� Leeds continue to struggle in the Guinness Premiership and were on the end of a 40 point beating at Bath last Saturday. They stay next to bottom of the league but are now only level on points with bottom club Worcester.
� Leeds were the only team in the league not to pick up any points at all last weekend.
� Leeds have played 4 matches at Headingley this season and have one win to their credit, against Worcester.
� Sale had an excellent home win against Leicester last Sunday and moved above the Tigers to 4th spot. They are 8 points behind Gloucester and Bath with 5 wins from 8 matches.
� Their away form has been poor however and they have only won at Worcester from 4 played.
� This was their first win away from home in the Guinness Premiership in 2007.
� Their previous away victory came at London Irish on 15th October 2006.
History
� Leeds and Sale have met 10 times in the Premiership dating back to 2001.
� Amazingly Leeds have never beaten Sale.
� Their best result was a 29-29 draw at Headingley in September 2002.
� Sale have beaten Leeds in the last 7 meetings.
Trends and Trivia
� Twice this season players have scored 3 tries or more in a match, Lesley Vainikolo of Gloucester and Matt Banahan of Bath, both against Leeds.
� With 120, Leeds have scored the least number of points in the Guinness Premiership after 8 rounds.
� With 270, Leeds have conceded the most number of points after 8 rounds.
� Leeds, along with London Irish, are the only 2 clubs whose forwards have scored more tries than their backs.
� With 12, Leeds have scored the fewest tries in the division.
� With 34, Leeds have conceded the most tries in the division.
� 11 of these tries have been scored against them in the first half of matches and 23 in the second half.
� Leeds are on a run of losing their last 3 matches.
� Alberto Di Bernardo is their leading points scorer with 41.
� Tom Biggs and Stuart Hooper are the only Leeds players to score 2 tries this season.
� Sale have conceded exactly twice as many points away from home than at Edgeley Park this season, 100 against 50.
� 13 of Sale's 16 tries have been scored by their back line.
� Sale are on their best run since November 2006 at the moment having won their last 3 consecutive Guinness Premiership matches.
� Charlie Hodgson has scored the most points for Sale this season with 75, only Chris Malone has scored more.
� Hodgson leads the way in the league drop goal count with 5 and has also kicked the ball 128 times from hand in general play, far more than any other player.
Ben Foden is
Sale's leading tryscorer with 4.
