Otley on rise after Luffman dismissal

OTLEY chairman Nick Girling says the National Two North club will wait until the summer to find a replacement for Mark Luffman.

Luffman was sacked as head coach earlier this month after Otley fell to their fifth defeat in a row, 305, to bottom-of-the-table Preston Grasshoppers.

Home wins against Scunthorpe and Hinckley under the stewardship of director of rugby Peter Clegg and assistants Tom Casson and Charlie Maunder have since eased relegation fears.

“We’ll assess the situation at the end of the season,” said Girling, below, a former Otley player.

“Since we parted company with Mark the attitude has changed enormously and we have had two great wins, one of which would probably have been a loss two weeks ago. The guys are taking a little bit more responsibility and stepping up to the plate a bit more.

“I think we will need a head coach but we’ve got to buy ourselves a bit of time and make sure we don’t get anywhere near relegation, which was a genuine and real concern, and still is but not as much.”

Otley were 10th, on 48 points, with a 15-point buffer between themselves and the bottom three going into yesterday’s game at Tynedale.

“Sandal had 60 points last year and they still went down,” Girling pointed out. “But we’ve got five more home games and I’m sure we’ll be fine.”