As the National Two North season progresses, two wise old heads are steadily knocking the naivete and inexperience out of a youthful Otley squad.

When you repeatedly find your best players poached by bigger clubs and need to draft in younger guys from the lower leagues, creating an identity can be difficult.

Yet slowly but surely, director of rugby Kyle Dench and head coach Steve Boden are managing to affect change at Cross Green.

Last Saturday’s win at Preston Grasshoppers was a case in point - moments of inexperience and a lack of game management but just enough of the good stuff to get them over the line.

Former Doncaster Knights director of rugby Steve Boden is working as head coach at Otley RUFC (Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe)

placeholder image — Former Doncaster Knights director of rugby Steve Boden is working as head coach at Otley RUFC (Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe)

“I think we turned the corner a little with that one,” says Dench ahead of today’s visit of Fylde.

“It’s been tough, we’ve got a new group of players, they’re quite young, we’ve recruited well though and we had to.

“It’s hard when you’re bringing a new group in and trying to integrate them and get them familiar with your way of playing.

“We spoke as a group about the squad being a little naive, which is understandable given their age and inexperience. We’ve signed players from Wetherby and Old Brodleians. They’ve been great, but when you speak about being naive there’s a reason for it.

“So it’s just a case of growing and developing a little more in our game and being a bit smarter at times.

“Hopefully the second half of the season will trump the first half.”

Ideally, the blueprint to follow would be that of Sheffield RUFC, who have won nine from nine as opposed to the four from 10 achieved by Otley, currently good enough for mid-table.

“If you look at a team like Sheffield, who are obviously doing really well, they play exactly the same style of rugby that they did when they first came up, but they’ve kept the same group and added to it with more experienced players,” said Dench.

“If you take that as a methodology it could work well for us long term - but then holding onto these players is another challenge.”

Dench is making the most of having Boden alongside him. “When he came available after leaving Doncaster I jumped at the chance,” said Dench. “He’s a winner and it’s infectious.

“The style of rugby we play is down to him. It’s not often you get someone who’s worked in professional sport since the age of 18 being able to give their time.”