A glorious weekend of Barnes Rugby was kicked off before kick off in the clubhouse where we gathered together all of the people who make it rain for the club, week in ,week out, each season.

Sponsors past, present and future, along with a hot of volunteers, current players and many officers of the club were all in the room, and it was wonderful to have 150 of you together as our guests to thank you personally for all you do for the club. Thank you again! We could not do what we do without you!

It was also another strong weekend for the green and gold on the pitch too, with all three men’s teams victorious.

The Occies secured a massive 66-17 win against 2nd placed Feltham, and in doing so finished in 3rd place in their league, on the same points as Feltham but with a slightly poorer points scored difference, an excellent season again for the Occies.

The Raiders, our Men’s 2nd XV, travelled to Esher, and smashed them 17-69, whilst the 1st XV played a tricky Sevenoaks side, who beat us at their place in January. With all of our skiiers deciding to return to the pitch from the pistes of Europe, we won 19-5 and maintained our pursuit of Dorking. We are currently placed in 3rd in National 2 East, on 96 points, with Dorking on 98 points. League leaders Esher are on 102 points, with a game in hand, so are almost home and hosed as champions, but still have Dorking to play this weekend, with Barnes their opposition on the last game of the season at Barn Elms on 27th April, a cracking end to the season for the Barnow faithful.

We have our penultimate game this weekend away against Tunbridge Juddians, who we scarped through against 16-12 in December at our place, since the start of the year TJ’s have had excellent results, winning 8 and losing only two games until they went down in a cracker at Dorking last week 36-33. In that winning run they joined us in being one of the few teams to beat Esher so we know that this game is going to be a true test of who we really are. I know we have flattered to deceive at times this season but I also know we love the big games so you should expect an absolute cracker on Saturday in Kent.
Match reports for all three of last weekend’s games are below.

Also on Saturday, our women play in a round-robin tournament at Twickenham, on the hallowed turf of HQ. The day is all about the Injured Players Foundation, and I am extremely proud to confirm that as of today we have raised over £11,690 smashing the £10,000 target we set ourselves, but we can still do better, can’t we?

You can still support this incredible cause by donating here now direct to this page https://www.barnowcares.com/women or via the www.BarnowCares.com website!
You will be also able to come on the day to see us take part in a triangular tournament against a number of other Women's teams - every penny raised, including the tickets for spectators, will go to support the IPF.

You can buy your spectator ticket here: https://register.enthuse.com/ps/event/IPFLadiesTournamentDay2024Spectator

Have a great Barnow weekend, do try and get to Twickenham to support our women, entrance is from 10am!

Onwards and Upwards Barnow!

Michael Whitfield – President Barnes RFC

Barnes Men’s 1st 19 - 5 Sevenoaks Men’s 1st XV - words by Rhino
On a blustery day at Barn Ems, both sides went at it hammer and tongs, there was nothing between the teams in the first half with Tom Spencer Jones driving over after five minutes and Tom Wilstead converting to make it 7-0 to Barnes after six minutes.

Sevenoaks came back hard and scored though winger Tyler Weekes, with Ben Adam missing the conversion Barnes led 7-5 at the break.

With the wind behind them, Barnes dominated the second half, and should have closed out several opportunities but had to be comfortable with superstar scrum half and captain Josh Davies scoring two tries on 50 minutes and 62 minutes. With Wilstead converting one of the tries Barnes won 19-5, a good performance leading into the last two games against Tunbridge Juddians away next week, and Esher at home the last game of the season at home.

Esher 2nd XV 17 – 69 Barnes Raiders (2nd XV) -words by Dom Palaccio
The Raiders were due to play a rescheduled league fixture last weekend, versus Richmond Saxons, but unfortunately, our neighbours were unable to field a team, so the points were awarded to us, without stepping foot on the field!

A late fixture was arranged to face Esher’s 2nd XV in a “friendly” fixture, against coincidently, our final opponents of the season in our final league game.
The Raiders are sitting 3rd in the Halbro Raging Bull League 1, the highest position of any other National 2 side in the league, and confidence was high, with a “dress rehearsal” against the men from Surrey.

Both teams were made up of players with plenty of experience, as well as some youngsters, of note for Barnes, Jasper Trott from the Under 22’s started at blindside flanker on his debut whilst home from University for the Easter Break. Esher could not field a full front row, so scrums were uncontested from the start.

Raiders were dominant all afternoon, with a 4 try tally in the first 40 minutes. With a squalling wind, kicking conversions was a challenge, and the half-time score was Esher 0, Raiders 22.

Esher came back at us early in the second half and scored first. Raiders would go on to dominate in all areas, running in a further 7 tries.

Jasper Trott scored on his debut, and Mathew Branfield played his first full 80 minutes having returned from a long-term injury, scoring a brace of tries to celebrate his return!
The final score was Esher 17- Raiders 69

Man of the match was 2nd row Milo Cawkwell, his lineout jumping and defensive play was flawless all afternoon.

Barnes Occies 66-17 Feltham – words by Jamie Bass

The Occies hosted Feltham for an epic final league game of the season.

As a tribute to the late George Buchner, this was a special game for the club, with a fantastic turnout on the pitch and the sidelines to honour his memory.

While a few home players had to kindly volunteer to switch sides and complete Feltham’s contingent, the game was played in great spirit with plenty of high quality rugby.

In the end, a dominant pack combined with a back line, orchestrated by man of the match Jake Shaw, won out with the Occies securing a 66-17 victory.

Try of the day came when debutant second row Henry Frost gathered his own right foot interception to run the pitch from the 22!