BAILDON, who are battling against relegation from Yorkshire Division Three, have changed their coaching structure.

Andy Pollard has replaced Adam Falkner as head coach, with Robbie Hill continuing to work with the backs, while Jimmy Lyons has been brought in to help with player management.

Ilkley Grammar School PE teacher Falkner, a Level Three RFU coach and a former rugby development officer when he took over in July 2013, had a difficult act to follow.

His predecessor Dave Duxbury had taken Baildon to two successive RFU Junior Vase finals at Twickenham (one won, one lost) and promotion as runners-up to Yorkshire Division Two, as well as winning the Yorkshire Silver Trophy.

The former Cleckheaton scrum half, who was at Gosforth for two years before coming to Baildon, also had to deal with the break up of a lot of that successful squad, either due to players retiring or moving to different clubs.

In Yorkshire Division Two in 2013-14, the Jenny Laners only won one and drew one of their 26 matches, finishing bottom, while they were tenth in Yorkshire Three in 2014-15. They are currently 12th in the same division and in a three-way battle to avoid relegation with Bramley Phoenix and Rotherham Phoenix.

Baildon have 25 points and Rotherham Phoenix 18, both with three matches left, while Bramley Phoenix are also on 18 points, but with four matches remaining.

Pollard, who played at Twickenham for Baildon, said: "Adam is a very good coach technically but we haven't really achieved anything in three seasons, so we have looked to change things.

"Robbie and I have had success with the colts at Baildon and with the girls as well, and now we want to do the same with the first team.

"Ideally, we would like to stay in Yorkshire Three this season, but we want to get back to being a community club and bring back players who have gone away from us, and both myself and my son Danny (currently out injured) have been working hard to achieve that since last Saturday.

"We have also been designated as an official O2 Touch Centre, so we will be using that to help the players before we start pre-season training in July, and I will be taking players off in small groups to teach them about specific areas of expertise, such as front rows or line-outs.

"What I am saying to the players so far seems to be making sense, and you can see light bulbs going on in their heads."