Club profile - Peterborough

James Warrener catches up with Peterborough head coach, John Cranston, at the start of 2023 it felt like a good time to catch up and see how the club was doing and what goals were being set for 2024. We chatted at the club's recent awards evening.

James - At the start of the year you mentioned wanting to get national recognition for the club. How has that gone?

John - We got promoted to division 2 of NTS so that was a case of mission accomplished. We played in a lot of tournaments with a good group of supporters and provided a referee (Touch section Chairman Alistair Dobson) and saw some real success. I am really pleased with how it's gone for us.

James - Who was your player of the year for Borough Touch ?

John - I picked Bill Badger. He has been with us for a long time and coaches younger players in union whilst putting his hand up to play touch. He is rapid and has good skills. We love having him.

James - What was the best match Borough played in during 2023?

John - Can I pick two? We had a semi final vs the Scorpions and a quarter final local derby with Cambridge. Both were tense and tight affairs that went to drop offs. You have got to love playing in those sorts of matches!

You are going to ask for the worst match next aren’t you? That was one against Wigan in round 1 of NTS. We just couldn't build any momentum in the game, compounding our own errors.

James - I am going to try and pin you down to a single answer on the best try of the year. Who scored it and what was it like?

John - Logan Noble scored it. He does it regularly but in this one he just carved through a number of gaps before dotting down. Excellent try.

As well as John, James got a chance to speak to Chairman, Alistair Dobson, who is justifiably proud of 2023.

James - Tell me some highlights from this year Alistair

Alistair - We had a number of our juniors, some of whom have been with us the whole journey make Midlands Tigers. That was a very proud moment for us all in the touch section.

Getting promoted of course is a highlight but keeping the teams and leagues going at the club is a really key positive.

Aside from the first team our social team, “The Yaks” played our own Peterborough summer league, blooding a lot of the youngsters (who also played the junior league before the main matches started!) and we had around 80 players participating in that competition.

We also still run Friday evening social training and Saturday morning juniors. It’s a packed agenda but so great to see the rewards coming.