YORK RUFC head coach Lee Denham believes his side are more than capable of beating anybody in the unpredictable world of Yorkshire One rugby.

Ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Bradford Salem, the former York player has lauded his free-scoring side’s versatility as one of the reasons they are doing so well, having notched a club record-equalling 11-match winning start to a season.

Denham has been coaching at Clifton Park for the past few years, and it looks as though the fruits of his labour are starting to show.

He said: “I’ve been here for three seasons now and it’s maybe taken a bit of time for the players to learn how I want to play.

“One Moortown player came up to me after the game (on October 28) and said, ‘I see you were playing a 1-3-3-1’, and I replied that we just play how we need to beat what’s in front of us.

"We can do that because we have a lot of formats at our disposal.”

To help keep the side on track, every few weeks Denham has the side discuss aims for the coming fixtures.

However, although setting reasonable targets for fixtures requires awareness of upcoming opponents, Denham reveals he prefers to pay more attention to his own team.

He said: “I try not to focus on the opposition because there’s nothing we can do about that. I don’t have any videos of them, so I can’t do any analysis.

“The other thing with these Yorkshire One teams is you never know what you’re going to face – one week they could be a few men short, the next they could have ex-British and Irish Lions player in the squad.”

On that note, the assistant coach and left-winger at Bradford Salem is the former Leeds Tykes and Saracens wideman Dan Scarbrough.

In the league, Salem have won their last two games against Wheatley Hills and North Ribblesdale after having lost the previous four in a row.

Denham also warned: “They’ve played a couple of the sides at the bottom of the league, so that’s given them a good run.

“We lost to Bradford Salem last year, so we need to focus from training until the end of the game.

“Their ground is awkward to play on – it’s a raised pitch and it holds water, while their full-back can kick from anywhere on the pitch, so we need to keep the ball in hand for as long as possible.

“What I will say, though, is that if we can put shapes together, hold our form and play to the best of our ability, we can beat anyone.”

Neither side played last week due to it being a cup weekend, with York's next Intermediate Cup fixture not coming until the new year.

Meanwhile, North Premier's second-bottom side Pocklington are back in action in after their break as they host winless Morley in an important basement battle.

Mid-table Cleckheaton are Saturday's North One East visitors to Malton & Norton, who last week lost their Yorkshire Cup quarter-final clash 22-18 to Driffield - the side that also beat them in the league seven days earlier.

Selby welcome sixth-placed Middlesbrough in Yorkshire One, having been eliminated last week from the Yorkshire Shield 27-10 at home to league rivals Scarborough.

York RI, with three wins from their last four league games, tomorrow travel to second-top Mosborough in Yorkshire Four South East.