It was a much better weekend for Barnes RFC last weekend, with all of the adult sides fairing well: the 1st XV battled out a 20 all draw with Canterbury, the 2nd XV beat Rams 2’s away, 13-18 and the Women’s 2nd XV beat Hackney Ladies away 12-17. There are three full reports of these games below for you to enjoy. There were also host of Juniors games and the Minis are going from strength to strength, there are updates from both of those sections and the Colts match vs Esher from the previous weekend. It’s all going on at Barnes RFC and I am therefore pleased to report a happy Chairman this week! ?

This weekend the Men’s 1st XV travel to high-flying Worthing, another one of our fiercest rivals in National League 2 South, it has often been nip and tuck between the two sides but I said that about Bury a few weeks back, so I don’t want to tempt fate again! It is a 3pm kick off at The Rugby Park, Roundstone Lane, Angmering. The 2’s entertain Rosslyn Park Rangers at Barn Elms with a 1pm kick off and the Occies are also at home against London Media 2’s, they have a 3pm kick off.

I am also delighted to announce the arrival of the new Barnes polo shirt, which celebrates the Big Lift and remembers Garry Garrett. If you would like one of these please contact me directly.

Here’s to another happy weekend of Barnes RFC rugby, all played in the original spirit!

Onwards and Upwards Barnow!

Michael “Rhino” Whitfield - Chairman Barnes RFC

Barnes 1st XV 20 - 20 Canterbury
An error-strewn game of great drama ended 20-20 at Barn Elms as two sides in the bottom half of National League 2 South battled for supremacy. The visitors certainly started the most confidently, possibly a reflection of Barnes’s hangover after the sobering result at Bury the previous week. The home team were under the cosh from the off and five minutes of pressure yielded the first score, a penalty slotted by Justin Reynolds as Canterbury took the lead 0-3 after six minutes.
This was the signal for Barnes to join the contest, and it was the home teams turn to turn up the pressure, this also yielded a penalty, slotted by Josh Hammett to make the square the score at 3-3 after 13 mins. Almost immediately from the restart, Barnes conceded a penalty, a gift gratefully accepted by Reynolds again, as the visitors regained the lead 36. The rest of the first half was controlled by Barnes though, with back row Jasper Cameron driving over and Hammett converting to give Barnes a 10-6 lead after 23 minutes, and then on 32 minutes a sweeping move across the backs saw winger Frank Nickson mover off his wing to create the extra man and score. Again, the Hammett radar was good, and he grabbed the extras, extending the Barnes lead to 17-6, and that was also the score at half-time.

The second half was frustrating for the home supporters (and probably for the visitors travelling faithful too) as error compounded error for both sides, too often Barnes lost possession when going into contact, Canterbury enjoyed the majority of the early possession and after 20 minutes Tristan King they drove over to score and, with the conversion from Reynolds, this narrowed the Barnes lead to 17-13.
There followed a spree of yellow cards, with props Freddie Boyce from Barnes, and from Canterbury going off for a ten-minute rest almost immediately after the Canterbury score, quickly followed by Barnes’s Callum Lockett, for Barnes for an alleged high tackle. As a result, Barnes had a sustained period with only 13 men, whilst Canterbury were down to 14. Barnes defended courageously, but the pressure from the extra two men told after 23 minutes into the second period, and Canterbury’s Thomas Best drove over from close range right under the posts. With the easy conversion, Canterbury took the lead back again 17-20.

With just about five minutes left, Barnes were back up to their full complement of 15 players and, no sooner did this happen, but Elliott Lusher was given a yellow card for laying all over the ball. Barnes went at it hammer and tongs and with five minutes left Hammett slotted a penalty to level the score at 20-20.

There followed a frantic and tense last five minutes, when to be honest, either side might have snatched the win, despite the desperate last attacks from both teams, the final whistle blew with the score still at 20-20. A fair result in the end which will leave both teams believing that that could have/should have won!

Rams 2nd XV 13 - 18 Barnes 2nd XV
The Rams rise to title contenders in National 1, has been matched by the changes to their facilities at their Sonning home which they have made in recent seasons. The new clubhouse, stand and very impressive gym, are a statement of ambition. All of this made the Barnes 2nd XV game against them all the more important, and a strong squad, led by Nick van Buuren, left Barnes with intent clearly written all over their faces!

Barnes started the game strongly, and the pressure eventually told, with Rams conceding a penalty which, the ever impressive, and improving, Jonny Burden, converted to take the score to 0-3. Barnes were not going to ease off and, after some more good play across the team, with dangerous running from Dan Shepherd, the forwards worked a lineout and from resulting maul drove over for the outstanding Freddie Avis to score, Barnes extending their lead to 0-8. Rams responded, with some impressive defence being required to hold them out. Eventually the pressure told, and Barnes conceded a penalty, reducing the deficit to 3-8. Barnes responded with a penalty of their own, extending the lead to 3-11. Despite a yellow card for Barnes’ Miles Lloyd (returning to play against his old club for the first time), Barnes held the score at 3-11 until half time.

The 20 minutes after half time was all pressure from Rams, with some strong attacking play. In the end, they scored a lucky try, but it was no more than they deserved for their sustained period of pressure. A charged down kick was caught by Rams’ 2nd row, and Rams worked a try in the corner to level it up at 11-11, and with the conversion, Rams took the lead 13-11 with 10 minutes to go.

The game swung to and fro, but Barnes eventually worked a try through Alex Collis, with the excellent Burden converting, Barnes retaking the lead 13-18.

The dying minutes were brilliantly managed by Miles Lloyd, with support from his forwards, and Barnes 2nd XV won a very close and competitive game.
The challenges don’t get any easier, with Rosslyn Park at Barn Elms on Saturday.

Hackney Ladies 2nd XV 12 - 17 Barnes Women 2nd XV
What a positive weekend we had for the club last week, with not a loss in sight for the adult squads. The women closed the club’s score tally in credit on Sunday in a gritty match against our friends Hackney Ladies.

Barnes women’s 2nd XV now have three matches under their belt this season, and on Sunday it was also the third consecutive game where we were lucky enough to have some brand-new players step onto the pitch for the club - this time around there were five newbies. A massive well done to Kate, Lana and Anson, who played their first competitive games of rugby ever, and a huge shout out to Sophie and Eleanor, who had their first start in the green and gold of Barnes. It was also the third win from three games for the mighty 2nd XV! ?

It was going to be a hard tussle between two very evenly matched teams. Jovi took a clean catch off the Hackney kick off to get us going, and we fired straight out of our half with intent. Some nerves at the start of the game lead to a few knock-ons in contact which lead to the first of many in a huge scrum battle. Lana took to front row life like a pro, while Sophie R and Rosie were absolute work horses at Lock, holding solid in the engine room.

With pressure building on our try line, and Hackney edging ever closer, a superb clearing kick from Ruth got us out of our 22, and the ball sat up perfectly off the bounce for Rochelle to swoop in, fend off two players, and then sprint to the line for her first try of the day. With Seb adding the conversion Barnes led 0-7.

Hackney weren’t going to let us get comfortable though and they upped their attack, but our incredible defensive pressure kept forcing them to knock the ball on within reaching distance of our try line. After a period of sustained pressure, we conceded a penalty, a few meters out from our line, and Hackney used the quick tap to push over the line for an unconverted try to close the deficit to 5-7.

A big chase on the restart put us in their half for a long while, but with both sides being so evenly matched, there was a lot of to-and-fro before Rochelle again made good ground, earning us territory. Some well controlled play from Zoe at scrum half saw Ruth twisting through defenders, to cross the whitewash on the stroke of halftime, Barnes went in for the oranges 5-12 up.

With the wind and the slope in our favour, we started the second half with the Kate taking to the field in place of Jovi, who took over hooking duties from Morven, who in turn slotted in at tight head. We were strong at the start of the second half, despite Hackney utilising their powerful bench and another ball out wide gave Rochelle the space to punch up the right wing again for her second try. Barnes lead extended to 5-17.

Hackney doubled down from the restart and certainly had the lion share of possession. Cheddars was all over the pitch, hitting the big forwards and challenging at the rucks like a terrier. Not wanting to let Cheds have all the fun though, Angie was vicious in defence as she put one of the biggest players on the pitch flat on her back to win us the ball back, and relieve some of the pressure, perhaps a stint at flank is on the horizon for the pocket rocket!

Despite our defence holding strong for the most part, Hackney managed to claw back a try near the posts which was converted, closing the gap to 12-17. The home side were on the hunt to draw level, and spent a lot of time in our half pushing for an additional score.

With fatigue setting in, and injuries starting to mount on both sides, we ground down the clock until a penalty to Hackney was awarded just outside our 22, and in front of our posts. With the wind against, the kick was pushed wide, we regathered and booted the ball into touch, and the whistle blew to make the final score 12-17 to Barnes.

There were some incredible performances throughout the game, particularly the newest players, who got stuck in, and earned their stripes. Our 9/10 axis of Zoe and Lucy was formidable, and the backs were really up for it, putting in long, damaging runs whenever the ball was put in their hands. The forwards dealt fantastically with an opposition pack that was, without doubt, much bigger than us, and challenged well at every lineout

Our standout players of the day were Sasha FoM - really settling into the 8 position with some big carries and great offloads, BoM had to go to the try machine Rochelle, and player of the day went to Rosie, who was an absolute powerhouse in the 2nd row, and with the ball in hand.

A huge thanks to the pitch side crew too, with Andy Pickering providing superb coaching support, our cheerleader Tati, filming clips and keeping the scores going through to the various WhatsApp groups, Sophie W for running the water on and offering morale support, and physio Jemima for taping us together, and patching everyone up on the pitch so we could grind out the win!

We have another week off now, which will allow for the aching bodies to recover before our double header at Barnes RFC on the 7th of November, where our 1st XV will face London Welsh, and our 2nd XV will be taking on newcomers Belsize Park for the first time in the NC3 league. As it’s a home fixture for both teams, it would be great to have plenty of support on the side-lines, so please do come down to cheer your Barnes Women on.

Esher Colts 17- 27 Barnes Colts
On Sunday 17th October, Barnes Colts played our first competitive match since March 2019 in the Surrey Colts Waterfall Cup. We were superbly hosted by our good friends at Esher Colts and were treated to a fantastic match on the Esher 1st XV pitch. Esher Colts are a dynamic and skillful team, with tons of enthusiasm and commitment and demonstrated a true rugby community spirit, both within their squad, and to the Barnes squad, coaches and parents.

For the past couple of competitive seasons, it has been nip and tuck between Barnes Colts and Esher Colts and, on this occasion, the result went in our favour with a win for Barnes Colts 17-27. The two stand-outs were: (1) the fact that, for one reason or another, Barnes Colts were top heavy with too many forwards who had to learn fast at becoming a back (e.g. we had our extra hooker play as a centre and our spare flanker as a winger!!); and (2) the brilliant individual try by the huge Esher Colts prop who, on the last play of the game when everyone else was shattered, decided to kick from his hands in his own half, ran after it at full speed through our defensive line, put enormous pressure on our full back and managed to take the ball at pace and make the try under the posts. Such great spirit from both teams throughout the whole match.

Post-match, as ever we were looked after magnificently by the Esher Rugby Club catering and bar staff and our massive thanks go to the Esher Colts, their coaches (Graeme in particular) and the rest of Esher Rugby for their warm welcome, great rugby and top-notch organisation. No doubt we’ll be arranging a return friendly fixture in the 2nd half of the season at Barnow.

Minis Section Update
Our amazing Minis have had a brilliant couple of weeks leading into the half-term break. The Sunday before last saw Team GB Rugby 7s co-captain, Meg Jones, take a session with our U10-U12 girls. We were delighted to be joined by a dozen girls from Thomas’s Battersea who, along with our Barnes regulars, had the most fantastic morning developing their skills with one of the country’s top players. As part of our commitment to grow the number of girls playing rugby across all our age groups, we will be running more sessions like this in the coming months, so please do look out for them. If your children know of any girls who might be interested in playing for the first time, then do encourage them to come along for a 3-week free trial.

Our Saturday training sessions continue to grow, as more families hear about us. If you’re part of another section of the club, I do encourage you to come down and take a look on Saturday morning. If the hundreds of children shouting, laughing and having the time of their lives whilst playing Rugby doesn’t inspire you, nothing will! Last Saturday our U10s were delighted to have Men’s senior player Chris Bryant down to give some specialist coaching on the tackle area, and how to create space in attack. A huge thank you to Chris, and a reminder that our Minis are always inspired when members of our senior Men’s and Women’s squads come and join them for a session.

Junior Section Update
This Saturday parents and coaches have a well-earned break for half-term, but we look forward to see everyone back and raring to go on the 6th of November.

Having joined forces with the Bank of England, the Under 15’s are having an encouraging season. The forward heavy Barnes squad compliments the back heavy BoE squad well, and there are plenty of signs to show that this is a partnership where the result of more than the sum of its parts. The combined squad has had encouraging early results in the Middlesex League with plenty of room for improvement as the players continue to gel.

Barnes RFC Under 13's October 2021 update - useful learnings gained by players and coaches from us hosting an early season full contact joint training session of 60+ players together with Teddington RFC. This fun session highlighted our need to focus on contesting possession in the ruck, with our subsequent training session already showing improvements in that area as well as how we shape for attack in pods. This is set to be key as our players prepare for November when we'll be hosting another joint training session with Ruislip RFC and playing festival rugby against several other clubs at Esher RFC, as well as the annual competitive "Waterfall Tournament" scheduled for the new year. The safety and welfare of our players remains a priority with more of our coaches, in the past couple of weeks, undertaking first aid training and attending a meeting with an external provider exclusively focused on return to play concussion protocols.

The Under 16’s took a well-earned break last weekend to re-energise for a run of 7 consecutive matches, starting with Dorking this weekend. Having missed so much game time last season, we are super excited about the boys being able to pull on the Barnes jersey and get a proper run of games under their belts and competing in the Waterfall Cup.
The Under 14’s played Ealing in a 10-a-side fixture. Barnes were a bit strong, so the format shifted to mixed teams, Baa Baas style game, as not to disappoint the travelling support. All the families got stuck into a pint and hot dogs in the clubhouse after the game to round off the day.