That's the warning from boss Brian McClennan ahead of this evening's crucial engage Super League four-pointer against Les Catalans Dragons in Perpignan.

The showdown in the south of France marks the start of the most important week of Rhinos' season so far, with Leeds due to face St Helens in a Carnegie Challenge Cup semi-final next Saturday afternoon.

Rhinos are in buoyant mood after the 46-8 win over Huddersfield Giants eight days ago, but that followed a run of three defeats in four matches and McClennan insists that while his team are making progress, they still have a long way to go.

"We need an improvement in all areas," said the coach. "We made a step in the right direction last week, that's for sure.

"What we were a bit disappointed with was a period of the game, not the overall performance.

"It was just that we slackened off for a period in the second half.

"We want to be getting as much as we can out of the 80 minutes.

"It is a case of playing for 80 minutes and competing and concentrating and focusing on the job in hand for the full game. We don't want to slip into bad habits.

"That was the only disappointment last week. We did make a step in the right direction and if we can carry on doing that and play better than we did against Huddersfield, we will be happy with that."

Catalans are just a point adrift of Rhinos, who began round 22 in second spot and trailed St Helens on points difference ahead of their derby at Wigan Warriors last night.

Leeds will run out at Stade Gilbert Brutus knowing defeat would see them slip out of the all-important top-two, but McClennan insisted: "We just need to concentrate on playing well.

"We are going to have to do a lot of things well before we can start thinking about the result. We will have to improve and that's part of the challenge."

Catalans – who finished third from bottom last year – are on a seven-match winning run and McClennan described their improvement this year as "excellent". He added: "It's good for Super League that they are doing really well and good for rugby league in France.

"They are a big side and they've got good structure. They are going well and it's a big challenge for us, but one that we're all looking forward to.

"We want to step up ourselves and it gives us a great opportunity to do that."

The long trip to France and next week's big attraction offer Rhinos no excuses, according to McClennan. He said: "We don't mind the travel. We are getting four days away together and that's good.

"We have just got Catalans on our minds, nothing else."

Catalans are without the influential Adam Mogg because of suspension so Casey McGuire reverts to scrum-half and Thomas Bosc to stand-off, with Aaron Gorrell returning from a shoulder injury at hooker.