Otley are relying on Mother Nature to get their National League One derby at home to Wharfedale played on Saturday (2.00).

They had been offered the use of Wharfedale’s frost covers but it proved too much of a problem transporting them from Grassington.

“It was a logistical problem,” said Otley Rugby Union Football Club’s secretary Marc Lawrence.

“We needed a flat-bed truck and about 15 men but I am optimistic that the game will go ahead anyway - especially if we only have one night’s frost in the pitch.”

Otley have boosted their first-team squad by registering 22-year-old prop Scott Freer from Leeds Carnegie, who is ironically a former Wharfedale player.

Freer, who can play on either side of the scrum and also at hooker, where he featured for the Greens, is a former pupil at Prince Henry’s Grammar School and was in the Leeds squad that played in the Middlesex Sevens in August 2009.

However, having been loaned out to Championship side Nottingham, the former England Under-20 player missed much of last season with a posterior cruciate ligament injury.

Otley have lost five of their last six matches, while the Greens have suffered five successive defeats and seven losses in eight.

And, setbacks apart, another unfortunate sequence is the Greens’ capacity for conceding tries early in the second half of games.

Wharfedale’s head coach Tom McGee said: “We have talked about leaking points early in the second half for the past three weeks.

“We have been in every game (apart from Barking) at half-time and I have tried everything that I know to solve what happens early in the second half.

“Now I have asked the players for their ideas and we discussed them at training last night.”

The Greens have tinkered with their starting line-up as they bid to complete the double over their derby rivals, having won 17-13 at The Avenue in September.

Open-side flanker Dan Solomi drops to the bench, and David Hughes, who has been champing at the bit, starts.

The more creative Tom Barrett, back after injury, comes in at fly half, with goal-kicker Tom Davidson dropping to the bench.

Also Steve Graham takes over at hooker from Ian Larkin.

Wharfedale (at Otley): A Whaites; J Druce, C Malherbe, A Hodgson, S Horsfall; T Barrett, P Woodhead; C Steel, S Graham, B Hooper, A Allen, R Rhodes, R Baldwin, D Hughes, T Vaioleti. Replacements: M Chivers, I Larkin, R Brown, D Solomi, T Davidson.