Pressure is on Leeds Carnegie admits Scott Mathie

Mathie has started all of Leeds' league games this season

Scott Mathie admits the pressure is mounting on Leeds Carnegie ahead of Friday's clash with Sale.

Leeds are four points adrift at the foot of the Premiership and are without a league win this season.

The scrum-half told BBC Radio Leeds: "Every game you don't win then more pressure builds up on the next game.

"This is a massive match for us, but we are playing good rugby and just need to put the final touches on that. We are very confident this weekend."

Last season Leeds recorded a vital win over Sale as part of their late surge towards Premiership safety.

That night Mathie came off the bench to score the key try for Leeds, which then elevated him ahead of Andy Gomersall as the club's first-choice scrum-half.

He said: "That was another high pressure game for us. I came on that night and felt very happy with my performance.

"I went on from there pretty well, as did the team and hopefully as a team we can repeat that performance on Friday night. I feel I've grown a lot from that point.

"I've felt very confident coming into this season, but it's been a bit of a struggle team-wise as we've tried to gel.

"As a scrum-half you are kind of only as good as your team, as you rely on them to put you on the front foot.

"Initially we struggled with what was our game plan and what works best for us.

"But over the last few weeks, as we've gelled and got guys fit again, we definitely identified what works best for us and it's only going to go from strength to strength now.

"We are very confident in what we are doing and as a scrum-half I feel very confident about how we are going forward. I think that allows me and the fly-half to make better informed decisions.

"I believe it will all come together on Friday night. We are putting pressure on ourselves to get the result. We want to get the result and will give everything to do that.

"Friday nights at Headingley can be very special and the way we are playing now I'm confident the tries will come and we can get the win."