Tom Youngs insists Nottingham Rugby must rid themselves of their 'Jekyll and Hyde' tag if they are going to have a fighting chance of winning a place in the Guinness Premiership.

The dynamic hooker believes Saturday's trip to London Welsh is the perfect opportunity to discover some much-needed consistency.

Although their form at Meadow Lane has been excellent, the Green and Whites have managed just one victory in their last nine away games and Youngs, who is dual-registered with Leicester Tigers, knows that has to change if their mission is to be accomplished.

He said: "Both our League fixtures against London Welsh were close games and it more or less fits with the rest of our season that we beat them 23-16 at home but then lost at their place.

"For some reason we've really struggled on the road and it's a bit of a mystery why that should be.

"How can we go from such a phenomenal performance against Exeter to losing at Doncaster a week later?

"It's really difficult to explain but the bottom line is that unless we find an answer, this Jekyll and Hyde form is going to severely damage our chances of making the play-off semi-finals."

Youngs, 23, has been an outstanding success for Nottingham since he converted from centre to hooker and he has so far notched nine tries this season.

Two of those tries came in the home win over London Welsh - and Nottingham are desperate for more of the same at Old Deer Park on Saturday.

"It really is a vital game," added Youngs. "None of us needs reminding of that and we have to go there and play to the same standards that we do on a regular basis at home.

"We are hurting after the performance at Doncaster and we must turn that into a positive tonic against London Welsh."