Welsh not thinking about aggregate

London Welsh will not be thinking about aggregate when they take on Leeds Carnegie in the 1st leg of their Greene King IPA Championship semi-final at Headingley Carnegie on Sunday (kick-off 1pm).

The Exiles welcome Leeds to the Kassam Stadium for the return leg on May 18, but the focus on Sunday will be solely on just getting a result.

"If you try and start planning that you have to be in touch by a certain amount going into the home leg, or to try and win the first game by a certain amount, you end up complicating things,” said London Welsh team captain Tom May.

"The best way to approach it is just to make sure you win each game, and if that's by one point or three points we'd take that on Sunday and move on to the Kassam.”

London Welsh's semi-final clash with Leeds promises to be pressure rugby at its very best, with a place in the Championship final up for grabs, but for May it's a pressure to be welcomed.

"You're in a part of the season that's a privilege to play in. We don't want to be on holiday, we want to still be playing and hopefully we can continue that into June,” he said.

"It's an opportunity that not every player gets, whether that's playing in the Premiership play-offs or to be promoted from the Championship. It's an exciting time of year and you can't be afraid of what lies ahead - you have to embrace it and be excited by it.

"When you're playing in it [the Premiership] year in, year out you probably get a bit complacent and you don't understand just how much of a carrot it is to people that aren't playing in it.

"I was very lucky to play a lot of rugby in the Premiership and I loved every minute of it, but now it's an opportunity for us to progress from the Championship, which is a tough league in itself, and get this club back to where we feel it should be.”

Sunday will be the third meeting between the sides this season with Welsh having won the previous two, but May is adamant that will count for nothing.

"All we can take from that is that we can beat them. Leeds are a tough outfit and we've had two really good games against and we're expecting the same,” he said.

"We understand the task that's ahead of us - we're expecting two really tough weekends. The way Leeds play the game is exciting.”

Whatever the result on Sunday, the stage is sure to be set for a thrilling 2nd leg at the Kassam on May 18 (kick-off 12:45pm). It's an occasion May is looking forward to.

"There's a lot of work going on behind the scenes to progress the club forward in the Oxford area and the semi-final at the Kassam is a big opportunity for the club to host a knock out game,” he said.

"Whoever comes out on top that weekend will more than likely win the tie and progress to the final.

"I'm confident in the players we have here and I'm proud of the work they've done all season. It's now time to put it all into action in these next two games, and hopefully beyond that.”