Thomas stars in Leeds win

Ceiron Thomas kicked 18 points as Leeds earned an impressive 26-10 victory over Wasps to improve their survival hopes.

The bottom side did not climb off the foot of the table with the win over play-off chasing Wasps, but on completing a Premiership double over the Londoners they gave themselves hope of avoiding the drop.

Thomas was the architect of the victory as he kicked six penalties while Hendrie Fourie's late try gave them extra breathing room in the scoreline.

Danny Cipriani scored all of Wasps' points with a try, conversion and penalty but it was not enough to stop Leeds earning a fourth win of the campaign.

After beating Sale last time out, Leeds' pack was again looking strong as the team secured back-to-back victories courtesy of Thomas' boot.

Early lead

He kicked Leeds ahead after 17 minutes, and they extended their lead nine minutes later with some shoddy defence from Tom Varndell and Cipriani leading to an offside penalty which Thomas again landed.

Cipriani atoned minutes later as he kept pace with David Lemi's audacious counter-attack from his own 22 and the fly-half was on hand to finish the move.

He brushed off the chorus of boos that greeted his swan-dive over the line and added the extras, but the game swung again a minute before the break.

Wasps prop Ben Broster was sin-binned for knocking the ball away when Leeds were pushing for a try and Thomas converted a simple penalty from in front of the posts.

Leeds went further ahead as Thomas' penalty from long range and a tight angle crept over the bar, but despite being a man light Wasps reduced the deficit with a penalty from Cipriani.

Penalty

Another Thomas penalty gave Leeds a five-point lead with 25 minutes left and the penalty count started to creep up as Wasps began to struggle.

The visitors were punished further from a crumbling scrum in front of the posts as the ever-accurate Thomas stroked over another three points.

Thomas produced a rare miss moments later, but Leeds grabbed the decisive try with nine minutes remaining as Fourie stole round the blindside and raced over the line from a driving maul.

Youngster Joe Ford replaced Thomas and he kicked a late penalty as Leeds savoured another potentially momentous win.