Northwich Rugby Club are delighted that Martin Poste has returned to the club to continue building the development project he began several years ago.

Undergoing major life saving surgery, Postie was forced to take a 12 month sabbatical, his initial plans were rudely interrupted by the Covid Pandemic, having overseen our promotion to Level 5 National Rugby. Just when restrictions were easing, Postie was struck down, leaving the club in limbo.

Northwich missed his experience and charisma, along with his expertise in recruiting quality players.

Through his enforced absence, Northwich Rugby Club began life in Level 5 unprepared, and under strength as a string of good experienced players decided to retire from playing for the club after the lengthy period of inactivity due to Covid.

Postie has returned, fired up and determined to ensure that Northwich don’t waste another chance at establishing a foothold at National League level.

Confidence is returning to the club due mainly to his return to good health, and his positivity as regards the season ahead. We have all ridden on the roller coaster when we won promotion twice and also triumphed in two cup competitions during his earlier tenure.

Who is Martin Poste? What is his background? Where did he learn his trade as one of the finest coaches of his generation? How did he end up at Northwich?

It all began at West Monmouth Boys School where Postie took part in his first competitive game of rugby as a scrum half. He had already decided rugby was going to be his sport having been brought up on the periphery of Welsh National game, and was inspired by travelling to watch the then giants of South Wales, Pontypool, containing the infamous Poola front row of Faulkner, Windsor, Price and the blindside flanker Terry Cobner.

Postie’s idol as he was growing up was Welsh scrum half and skipper Clive Rowlands and at an early age he decided he wanted to play at the highest standard possible.

At 17 Postie moved to Basingstoke where he joined the local club before moving on to North London and plying his skills and commitment to Haberdashers Rugby Club near Borehamwood. Not long after, in 1984 he joined one of the biggest clubs in the country, Harlequins, where he played against the likes of Paul Rendall and Gary Pierce, a fearsome and well respected front row in the Poola tradition on the senior circuit.

However, four broken legs and a lateral knee ligament injury forced Postie into retirement far earlier than he had wanted. Determined to remain in the sport he loved dearly, he began coaching at Aylesbury Rugby Club, coaching their under 19’s to eventually winning the Buckinghamshire U 19’s County Cup.

It wasn’t long before he was appointed Buckinghamshire U 19’s County Coach and helped them reach the Quarter Final of the National County Cup competition. Promotion to County U21’s coach soon followed.

Then came Postie’s first senior `1st XV coach appointment when he joined Chinnor who were then in the lower leagues of their region but it wasn’t long before he guided them up the ladder to National League status and the Oxfordshire Cup Final.

Word was spreading about how Postie had the knack of transforming the fortunes of teams, especially in the Home Counties area of the country. An associate of Postie’s from his rugby playing days, Gordon Provan, invited the former Harlequins scrum half to attend a “function” at London Scottish Rugby Club who ironically share The Stoop in Twickenham, West London, with Harlequins. Unbeknown to Postie as he was being chauffeured in Provan’s gold Rolls Royce that the “function” was in fact an opportunity for Postie to meet Geoff Butterfield, and be invited to join the coaching staff at Harlequins.

Postie was asked to take charge of the Harlequins tour to the Basque Region of Northern Spain and in San Sebastian, Postie shared a room with Dick Best, soon to be England Coach. Postie was reluctant to take up the offer because he had already booked a holiday to the West Coast of France with Annie and the four kids. “No problem” said the Harlequins hierarchy, “Drop them off in France and we will take you to San Sebastian!”. Which is what happened.

In the Harlequins team when Postie was Assistant Coach was David Cooke, Marcus Rose of England fame, and Ian Milne, the “Bear” from Scotland. Later on Harlequins had the likes of Martin Corry, Mickey Skinner and Jamie Salmon wearing the famed four quartered shirt.

After several successful years, Postie stood down but was soon approached in 1992 by ambitious Birkenhead Park Rugby Club. He spent three years with the club helping them to successive promotions before being invited to become coach of near neighbours Caldy.

Caldy in those days were at the same level as Northwich Rugby Club but Postie’s ideas, commitment, determination, ambition soon rubbed off on the Wirral club, including a thumping “maximum” of 147 – 0 victory over…..Northwich Rugby Club. Caldy have since scaled the heights of National Rugby and for the first time in their history will be playing Championship Rugby, one level below the RU Premiership, the foundations of Caldy’s meteoric rise laid all those years ago by Postie.

Part way through the Caldy success story, Postie was approached by Sheffield Rugby Club, at that time a club playing at a higher level than the Cheshire Club. It was at Sheffield that Postie came across a back row player by the name of Chris Dale.

Sadly, Postie’s tenure at Sheffield didn’t last too long because he had to undergo quadruple heart by-pass surgery and meant he had to stand down as coach but stayed in touch with the South Yorkshire Club.

Chris Dale caught up with Postie after he had recovered from his major surgery and asked if Postie would be interested in coaching Northwich Rugby Club. After accepting the initial invitation, it was arranged for Postie to meet Rollo Hawkins and both met up at The Wild Boar, at Beeston, to discuss both the Club’s and Postie’s ambitions.

And here we are at the current chapter in the Postie rugby career. We all hope there are many more chapters to come, preferably with more continued success at Northwich Rugby Club.