Neil Back and Hendre Fourie have refused to rule out joining an exodus from Leeds if the Yorkshire club fail to pull off an unlikely relegation escape for the second season running.

The England hooker Steve Thompson has already confirmed that he will join London Wasps whatever happens in Saturday's final round of Premiership fixtures, when Leeds must win at Northampton to have any chance of surviving, which would then depend on Newcastle losing at Bath.

There would also be a reprieve for Leeds if Worcester, the only Championship team eligible to be promoted to the Premiership, lose their two-leg play-off final against Cornish Pirates. But the possible loss of the England flanker Fourie and Back, the head coach, underlines how much is at stake.

Both have another year remaining on their contracts but neither was prepared to guarantee that they would definitely stay if Leeds return to the Championship. "I'm focusing on Saturday's game at Northampton," the former England openside Back said, refusing to discuss what might happen if the worst occurs.

"I'm just thinking about this game at the moment," echoed Fourie, the 31-year-old South African who joined Leeds in 2007 after two seasons with Rotherham. "That's going to depend on a whole lot of things. It's a tough question. At this moment it looks like if we're in the Championship I'm going to be there."

However, playing out of the Premiership would inevitably undermine Fourie's international prospects, and Gloucester and Sale are two clubs who have been mentioned as possible destinations.

Sale have signed two of Leeds's bright young talents, Kearnan Myall and Luther Burrell, for next season, and the Fijian wing Semi Tadulala is also expected to leave after the Northampton game to return to rugby league with Wakefield Trinity. Marco Wentzel, the South African lock and captain, has said that he would be prepared to stay, provided the club retain a squad good enough to bounce straight back to the Premiership.