Next rugby season will be tougher than last one, new Peebles head coach Graeme Paterson warns players

Their division is being slimmed down from 12 teams to ten and will include three relegated from National League Division 1 – Aberdeen Grammar, Stirling County and Edinburgh’s Stewart’s Melville – as its numbers too are being cut by two, meaning that a third of their fixtures will be against former higher-level opposition.

On top of that, only five other teams from last term remain – Berwick, Newton Stewart, Falkirk, Kirkcaldy and Lasswade – making it more of an unknown quantity.

According to Paterson, appointed as head coach following former gaffer Iain Chisholm’s move to National 1’s Melrose this week, the Pees will have to find their feet fast in that changed landscape if they want to improve on the fourth-place finish they managed last time round, with 67 points from 22 fixtures.

“We finished fourth last season, but there’s been a restructure of the leagues since and that’s going to provide some extra challenges and different challenges,” said the 53-year-old father of three, originally from Kelso but a resident of Peebles since 1998.

“It’s a bit of an unknown in terms of how to set out our aims and objectives and targets. That’s something we’ll do over the next couple of weeks to nail down where we think we actually are.

“Everybody wants to improve, there’s no doubt about that, but whether the results you want come off the back of that is another thing and depends on who you’re up against.

“Having three teams coming down from National 1 will provide a sterner challenge week on week. That’s something I'm going to impress on the players and other coaches, that the standard is going to be higher and it’s going to be consistently higher every week.

“We’re going to have to make sure we don’t have off-days and off-times in games. We won’t get that luxury – it’ll be about being on your game for every part of the season.

“It’s a good challenge to have and I’m looking forward to taking it on.

“It obviously came about because of Iain moving on. It wasn’t something that was really planned as such but I’m happy to step forward and hopefully keep the good work that’s been done up to now going.”

Paterson, a former police officer, will be backed up by a coaching team comprising Greg Raeburn and Keith Nisbet, plus two player-coaches – club stalwart Neil Hogarth, captain last season, and Matt Carryer, returning from Tennent’s Premiership champions and Scottish cup-winners Hawick.

He’s looking forward to seeing hooker Carryer, 32, back at the Gytes, saying: “It’s good. His leadership and experience will be very important, and hopefully they will help drive the direction of the team on the field as well.”

Paterson is hoping to keep Peebles’ squad from last season intact or as close to that as possible, saying: “Our main focus is just retaining the players we have as much as we possibly can and we seem to be succeeding at that.

“Also, our colts have been successful so we’ll be looking at transitioning as many of those guys through to the senior squad as possible, whether that’s playing for the Reds, the second XV, or the first XV.

“We’re very much looking at just developing from within. We’re not casting the net wide and looking for lots of new players to come in. That’s just not the nature of the club. we’re looking for a sustainable model.

“We look to develop from within and that’s testament to the work that goes on at under-18 level and below.

“We’ve had a successful last three years at those levels and hopefully we’ll see the benefits of that in our seniors.”

Paterson ended up as forwards coach at the Gytes last season after initially returning, following a prior stint helping out there, in an advisory capacity, having previously coached at Musselburgh and Edinburgh’s Trinity Academicals.

His playing days were spent at Duns’ colts, Kelso, Musselburgh and Peebles in various positions including hooker and loosehead prop.

Next season’s fixture list is out now and it begins with the Borderers hosting one of the new campaign’s unknown quantities, Aberdeen’s Gordonians, promoted from National 3, on Saturday, September 2, with kick-off at 3pm.

That’s followed by more of the same – a trip to Stewart’s Melville the Saturday after that and a visit from Stirling on Saturday, September 16 – and it’s not until Saturday, September 23, that Paterson’s team come up against a familiar foe, Falkirk away.