Yorkshire derby pits hard-nosed Otley against unfortunate Hull Ionians in bid to escape trouble

With points falling in such a marginal fashion means there are both fortunate winners and unfortunate losers in the present league rankings.

One club able to count themselves among the latter are Hull Ionians, dwelling in second bottom despite only being eight points away from eighth.

It is an aspect of the standings that has not eluded Ionians head coach Joe Makin, who feels the state of play is more open than ever.

“You’ve only got to look at the league to see this,” he told The Yorkshire Post.

“If you look at ourselves through to fourth or fifth there’s only about 15 points in it. And it’s even tighter up to about seventh or eighth where there’s probably only nine points in it. It’s a very tight league, tighter than it has been for the last four years. You’ve got two runaway leaders and for the rest anyone can beat anyone on their day.”

Despite this, Makin believes it is “crucial” for his side to secure a positive result in Saturday’s home game against 11th place Otley.

“I think it’s crucial for us to get a victory,” he added. “We’ve got four training sessions and two games leading into Christmas and I think if we win both games, we find ourselves at the midpoint of the year in a much better spot.

“Otley are a young side coached well, (with) some exciting backs so we’ve got to be on our metal in defence to stop that, but I think we will take them to task.

“There is a chance here to win for us to progress up the table.”

Today’s visitors have experienced an almost identically rocky start to the campaign, with 11 bonus points to the hosts’ seven being the only difference between both sides’ eight losses and three wins so far.

Otley head coach Kyle Dench views his club’s first half to the season as somewhat of a natural reaction to the big changes they endured during the summer.

After losing what he estimates to be ten senior first team figures in pre-season, the main focus is ondeveloping a relatively youthful squad.

He said: “I feel like it’s been a bit of a season of change and transition for us.

“Working with the younger boys, it’s about them learning and growing as a group which is exciting and a different challenge.

“I’m happy with how we’re doing and all I’m asking of the boys every single week is doubling down on improving week on week.”

Such a position is familiar ground for Dench.

Having spent plenty of his career with the West Yorkshire club, he understands both their strengths and their limitations intimately.

“All we’re looking for the boys to do is to keep improving weekly and keeping smiles on faces and enjoying our rugby,” he added.

“That’s all we can do as we don’t have a big wad of cash to throw at anyone like other teams in the league.

“We’re a club that’s punching above our weight. Everyone works hard for each other.

"We’ve got a hard-nosed, steely mentality.

“We’re trying to carry on that narrative this year.”

Discussing his side’s visit to Humberside, Dench remained stoic.

He said: “If we keep our heads and stay in the game and deliver the best we can, we’ll put in a good account of ourselves.

“The outcome will hopefully look after itself.”