Peterborough RUFC coach happy with the first half of the Midlands Division One season, but there is more to come from his team

The city side are just two points off second spot with a game in hand.

Manning said: “To be fourth in the league is a real positive for the club and not where anyone,including ourselves,thought we would be sitting. We finished 10th in the last season pre-Covid so it’s a marked improvement.

“We are still learning though and we have a long way to go. We have things we have to constantly be striving to be better at such as trusting our processes and playing with more maturity.

“There have been a couple of really good performances, the away games against West Bridgford and Derby spring to mind, but also a couple where we let ourselves down.

“The structures and systems we put in place have been working well when the lads stick to them. We now need to improve and push on. We have laid some good groundwork, but we will need to be better as every team has seen what we offer so will be better prepared.

“A few of our senior players have really stood out such as Charles Jacobs,Ross Chamberlain and Stu Day, and our young lads like Doyle Gordon, Byron Van Uden and Miguel Alves, who have made their debuts, have adapted to first team rugby very quickly.

Lots of hard work awaits us, but we are looking forward to the rest of the season.”