BOTH Skipton and North Ribblesdale have been favoured with home ties in the first round of the Rugby Football Union's Junior and Intermediate competitions which will be played on September 15.

Skipton will open their campaign with a visit to Sandylands of Halifax club Old Rishworthians, who will be operating two divisions below them next season.

Rishworthians were pipped for promotion by one-hundredth of a point by Hessle and face another season in Yorkshire Four.

North Ribblesdale will start as notional favourites when they entertain Rochdale. Their visitors will be playing in the North Lancashire & Cumbria League next season, which is the direct equivalent of Yorkshire Two, where the Grove Park men will be operating.

Five of the 12 clubs in that section this coming season will be new faces, which offers a refreshing challenge for the Settle side.

West Park Bramhope, Beverley and York are clubs dropping down a level, while progressive Scarborough and Sheffield Tigers are incoming teams from Yorkshire Two.

While the shape of the league may offer a number of new challenges to the playing and coaching staff, it will offer a bigger challenge still to the club treasurer.

With six trips to East Yorkshire and another to remote Dore Moor to face the Tigers, balancing the books could be as difficult as picking up the points this time around.

With three of the first four league games being away this season, the Grove Park men face a difficult start and some strong pre-season work will be necessary if they are to hit the ground season and avoid being involved in a catch-up situation from the outset.

The long-running Annual Meeting was finally completed recently, with the appointment of Wes Spensley as chairman the most significant change.

He succeeds Lol Phillipson. On the playing front, there is little alteration, with John Thwaite continuing as captain and Gareth Evans assisting. John Hargreaves captains the second team with Bryon McGeoch his No 2.