OLD Grovians RUFC are well underway in their new Yorkshire Two campaign, having played five fixtures, but their is a growing concern within their ranks.

Head Coach, Andy Hinchliffe, has pointed out that the difficulties his side are facing in relation to the club's front row players.

He said: "The rules on front row players, especially at levels six,seven ,eight and below are not helping.

"I don't know what the solution is to the issue, maybe having more substitutes, but there just aren't the players there.

"The younger players are coming through schools or academies, but if they are playing front row, then they are invariably being snapped up by higher established clubs.

"I think that they're probably playing three or four levels above where they should be playing, so that is more dangerous than anything else.

"And that is inevitably filtering down into clubs at community level. A lot of our players com from Woodhouse Grove and all of our front row players were snapped up by academies on almost full time contracts.

"And that's just making it almost impossible to bring in new front row players into this level.

"There is also a lot of pressure from parents to maybe not let their children play in the front row, and you have the older guys who are finishing up on their career.

"So, you are basically left with the guys who are in the middle and there aren't enough of those to support the number of teams in having four or five.

"In a squad at Yorkshire Two level, you need to probably have eight or nine players in those areas, because rotation, injuries and the factor of whether players want to play that week all come into play.

"It's difficult and it's causing problems."

Old Grovians do return to action on Saturday (today), when they travel to Yarnbury and they will go into the fixture with confidence following their 43-5 victory over Thornensians two weeks ago.

And Hinchcliffe was buoyant when asked about the fixture.

He said: "I'm looking forward to the game, it's definitely going to be an exciting one.

"Strangely we've got a decent squad, with good availability this weekend, and it's a strange one because we actually train at Yarnbury.

"They're a good club and we have a good relationship, but it's the same as any game in the Yorkshire Two Division, meaning it depends on who has got what available and who turns up.

"It's a tough one to call, but it's going to a good competitive game."

Hinchcliffe added: "They are well coached, both in the forward and back areas. They've got a very squad as well, with a lot of depth.

"I just think it's going to be a great fixture."