DIRECTOR of rugby Alex Davidson insists Luctonians must get their defensive systems right in Saturday’s home clash with Hinckley in National Two North.

Davidson believes some of Luctonians’ players switched off at crucial times during last weekend’s comprehensive 42-22 defeat at Otley.

Davidson, who is coaching the Mortimer Park forwards, felt Luctonians turned over “far too much ball” as Tom Hodson racked up 29 points for Otley, including a hat-trick of tries.

“We only had one win in October and we’ve picked up just one victory in November,” said Davidson, whose side are eighth in the table with 26 points under their belts.

“I could name 16 players out injured and we’ve been hit, particularly in the backline, but we’ve got to put our focus on the pitch.

“Fly half Tom Jones is struggling with an injury in his thigh at the moment and that’s affecting parts of his kicking game.

“We went OK for a period of time with the forwards at Otley but we needed to be much better in possession because we turned over far too much ball.

“We were blown away in a 20-minute period in the first half when Otley scored four tries.”

Luctonians led through an early try from Louis Silver, who then landed a penalty to put the visitors 8-0 ahead.

However, Otley replied with a try from Hodson and the full back then bagged two further scores to complete a 14-minute treble.

Lock Simon Willet crashed over to extend Otley’s lead after the interval.

The hosts had Max Johnston yellow-carded before Luctonians replied with tries from Owen Davies and Piers Morell, with Silver slotting a conversion.

Otley had the final word, however, notching a penalty try which Hodson converted.

“We have to work on our defensive systems because people switched off at Otley,” said Davidson.

“Hinckley are quite big in the pack but they are not doing great things so I am quietly confident we will be able to get a win.

“Ben Fowles and Tom Dodd should be back and hopefully Josh Watkins will return because he’s an important player for us and we miss him badly.”

Davidson added: “We have 26 points so far and I would be pleased with another five points on the board before we get to Christmas.

“The safety net is normally around the 60-point mark and reaching that is our first focus.”