It was another good weekend for the club last weekend, with all senior sides winning, and all of our Junior teams, and the Colts, all giving excellent accounts of themselves in their matches.

The Men’s 1st XV travelled to Southend to take on Westcliff who, whilst languishing at the foot of the National League 2 South table, have too often been our undoing in the past, especially at their place. After a spirited start, the home side's challenge fell away, with Barnes winning at a canter ,10-52. Rob Kirby made 100% of his kicks, notching up 7 conversions and 1 penalty in the process.

The old boys in the Originals got their 2022 campaign off to a flying start, winning away against a powerful Farnham side 19-25.

The Women’s 2nd XV won brilliantly too, winning against Hackney Ladies 2nd XV 22-29.
There was a full range of Colts and Juniors games last weekend too, the Colts beating Rosslyn Park 36-19 at Barn Elms, and all sides from the Under 12’s to the Under 16’s performing really well, Barnes Junior and Colts Rugby is in great shape right now!
This weekend is a big one in the Barnes RFC calendar, being the annual Vets Lunch, now in it’s 12th year.

The first Vets Lunch, in 2009, was founded to remember Barnes legend Neil Bruce-Copp, after he passed away, and since then we have met every year both to toast Neil, as well as to meet up with our old mates. This year, it is the first time since 2019 that we have been able to get together, so there is a lot to catch up on!

It is also a big day on the pitch, with the Men’s 1st and 2nd XV’s both take on Esher, our last game at their place was an absolute cracker, played in a tempest last year, which we drew 17-17 . It was a contest which Esher were disappointed in their performance, but we were disappointed not to win. Last week, Esher narrowly beat the increasingly difficult Leicester Lions 34-31, and are now in 2nd place in National League 2, and we are in 9th place in the same league. On paper, it looks like an easy game for Esher, but rugby isn’t played on paper, is it? Once thing is for sure, we are set for a cracking afternoon of rugby.

Below are lots of delicious reports on all of the games last week, there is something for everyone, so please do go through them, it is your club and there is so much good going on!

Here’s to a brilliant weekend of Barnow rugby ahead, all played in the original spirit we so love at Barnes RFC, please do come down and support your club!

Onwards and Upwards Barnow!

Michael “Rhino” Whitfield - Chairman Barnes RFC

Here are all the match reports:

Westcliff 1st XV 10 Barnes 1st XV 52

Last Saturday, Barnes travelled to Westcliff, knowing that too often when we have played teams below us in the league, we have struggled to raise our game to the level we are able to deliver against the sides above us. A strange contradiction isn’t it?

We have, on several occasions, journeyed to Southend, and come up short, kicking ourselves on the way home about opportunities not taken during the game.

From the off, Westcliff threw the kitchen sink at us, and quite rightly took the lead, keeping it to 7-3 for 30 minutes, a Rob Kirby penalty our only morsel of comfort. An unfortunate yellow card against Westcliff punctured their team balloon.

As the Essex balloon deflated, Barnes suddenly woke up, and, in the final ten minutes of the first half, Barnes scored three unanswered tries, from Cameron Leigh, Miles Lloyd and Cameron Ruddock.

Dead-eyed Dick Kirby, slotted all three conversions, making the halftime score a seemingly unlikely 7-24 to Barnes.

Although Westcliff landed a penalty early in the second half, these were the only points the home side added to their tally. Barnes though, added four more tries, Leigh and Ruddock each grabbing their second tries of the game, whilst Welsh wizard, Ash Thomas, and the evergreen Oli Foster, both scored too. With Rob Kirby seemingly able to slot each conversion blindfold, Barnes completed a 10-52 victory against the Essex side, who never gave up.

Farnham Vets 19 - Barnes Originals 25
It shouldn't have been a surprise to us that Jonny Wilkinson's parent club knows about comebacks and last-minute drama, should it? Yet it was.
Skipper Rich Mayson (the author of this piece) was still nervy about having enough players until he'd checked his phone on Saturday morning (those Friday Flakers are still around). Without the support of our beloved Occies, and Codo cancelling his family skiing trip in Italy so he could play, we wouldn't have had a starting 15.

But we did. And boy didn't we get off to a blistering start. Some of our broken-field rugby, and the simplicity of our play was nothing short of superb. We scored a slick team try from a set-piece on Farnham’s 22. The Forwards secured first-rate ball, the backs ran a scything move that resulted in a try. Rugby Football Union is a simple game, it seems.

Sean Gibson's ability to catch restarts above his head like an NFL wide receiver was mind-boggling, every time. Our forwards had a tough outing against a solid, and highly capable, Farnham pack. The graft required at scrum time was significant. Our forwards must have stood up from scrums with hollow legs, and breathing through their eyes, only to be told by some quiff in the backs to "get around the 'effin corner". Chapeau forwards!

Gibbo's aerial brilliance, was trumped by a supernatural event at the end of the first half. After our full-back had been helplessly done in a two-on-one he performed a metaphysical miracle. He instantly relocated himself from the 22 to the try line to dislodge the ball while Farnham's 13 was in the act of scoring. Dave Riley can add 'being in two places at once' to speaking French and having great hair. Some people!

It would be remiss of me not to mention one player whose contribution was simultaneously nothing, and everything. Lewis Hammond did not play one minute. He didn't even participate in the warm-up. Lewy actually played for his parent club (Chiswick) on Friday night. Replete with injury, and aches and pains, he schlepped to Farnham, and stood to post for the Originals. In that same spirit, Nick Hamilton drove from Norwich to play.
That, gentlemen, is the Originals spirit in action, and essence!

We gave a proper welcome to Kurt Won, who played his first game for the Originals. Our Russian sleeper agent (named Boris, of course) recruited him from the Mini's section of coaches. Kurt came to watch our friendly with London Irish in November< and afterwards concluded: "doesn't look that hard". And he was right (ish).

And my last mention in dispatches is to Adam Libbey who said after the game that no game had ever stressed his cardiovascular system that much. After playing rugby in Barnes 1st XV squad for years, and for the Army, which was quite the compliment. Nothing to do with the fact that he had Covid 10 days earlier. Nothing!

What better way to finish a rugby match than with two things the lads love: changing room beers, and free stash. An Aladdin's Cave of new gear was generously provided by our sponsors, 1Cap Consulting & Convert Construction. On behalf of the team, thank you very much to Rich Fenech &and Marek Przychocki for their generosity.

Barnes Colts 36 - Rosslyn Park 19
After a welcome break from school and club rugby fixtures over Christmas, and the New Year, Barnes Colts were back in action at Barn Elms on Sunday against our closest rivals, Rosslyn Park Colts. The Surrey Quins Cup starts next Sunday, so we wanted a proper warm-up friendly match to get the whole of our squad (25 players) ready and what a match it was with Barnes Colts winning 36-19.

The match got off to flying start with RP Colts showing their ability by breaching our defence within the first few minutes, with some very quick play from the breakdown, scoring under the posts. RP properly caught us napping!! The lads regrouped, and started to pile on the pressure in reply, eventually scoring after, what felt like, 8 or 9 phases of play going back and forth across their 22. This to-ing and fro-ing continued for the rest of the first half, with both teams managing to score again. At half-time the score was Barnes 12-14 RP, with everything to play for.

Given our big squad (and as this was a friendly) we were able to make a number of substitutions in key positions in both the forwards, and backs. With fresh legs, and a revitalised momentum, we increased our speed of play, especially at the breakdown, allowing us to find some marginal space in the wider channels, giving our 12/13 combo of Liam and Harry the opportunity to punch some holes - Harry managed to burst through twice to score (Barnow 24-14 RP). RP fought back yet again with some of their own silky moves and fast play to close the gap - with 10 mins to go it was 24-19.
The lads showed their composure, and game management and executed a newly trained lineout move on the Rosslyn Park 5 metre line and, from the resulting breakdown, our loosehead (Owen) saw some space, stayed low and scored a beauty of a forward’s try (Barnes 29-19 RP). To cap it off, in the final play of the match, our No:6 (Callum) broke through, stormed down the left wing, and cut across to score under the posts in his debut match for the Colts (in fact, we later heard that this was his first ever try for both school and club!).

The final score was Barnes Colts 36 - 19 Rosslyn Park Colts. The skill level from both teams was very high for this age group, and the match was super competitive, very fast, and certainly played in the right spirit, and both sets of players are to be congratulated. Onwards to our first Quins Cup match against Weybridge Vandals next Sunday.

Under 16’s - Barnes 24 London Welsh 24
The Under 16’s played out an eight-try thriller in the first round of the Quins Cup league. London Welsh raced into a 12-point lead in the first 10 minutes, and it looked like we were going to have a tough day at the office. However, the boys regrouped and produced an outstanding 50 minutes of rugby. To use Stephen Jones’ favourite phrase, the forwards were “thunderous” in the contact areas.

The jab, and our offloading game, was a joy to watch, and this led to three excellent tries for the pack. Our fourth try was something Marcus Smith would have been proud of, an inch perfect cross field kick resulting in Barnes going into a 24-12 lead. Welsh pulled one try back, and with a couple of injuries to Barnes, combined with Welsh’s constant threat with the ball in hand, this resulted in a tense final 10 minutes. With the last play of the game Welsh managed to draw level with a converted try. A great game and a fair result. London Irish await us in Round 2 in a couple of weeks’ time.

Under 15’s update
The U15’s collaboration with Bank of England Under 15’s continues to strengthen with the combined team taking some excellent results from two tough matches since the Christmas break.

An enormous Dunstable team (with six Under 16’s playing down) visited but could not break through the dogged defence of the BarBan team. BarBan’s made the most of their chances and came away with a decent victory against tough opponents.

This weekend, it was the turn of Isleworth Grasshoppers, who initially pressured the team time, but could not break through. Our exceptional pack dominated both scrum, and line out, and made opportunities that were comfortably taken.

Under 14’s 32 – 22 Cranleigh
We took 10 players to Cranleigh on Sunday, complimented by 9 players from the Bank of England, and 2 players from Chiswick RFC. Cranleigh also leaned on nearby Farnborough, to make up their numbers to get the game on! It was our first competitive away Waterfall cup game for the best part of 22 months, and what a game it was for those who travelled! It was a close and cagey start for two well balanced teams, but it was Barnes who took the early initiative, after 3 phrases of crash ball from our forwards the oppo’s defence could not cope with the pressure, we sucked them in, and went fast out wide, scoring in the corner with a 3 on 1 overlap.

Cranleigh quite rightly responded, but our better line speed allowed us to pick off a loose pass and score under their posted. Sadly, both conversations fell short. Barnes received the ball from the restart, only for young Ollie Jones to catch unchallenged at fullback in his own 22, this lad has wheels, and he beat two defenders, before finding space in broken play to run in for our third score. 3-0 HT. With such a luxury of players on the bench, we switched it up to get all players on the pitch, and this is where Cranleigh caught us napping, scoring their first try. Barnes score another try to go 4-1 up, and then the fun begun with the home ref. Advantage! Advantage!

They got one back from our own line out, reducing the try deficit to 4-2 with 11 minutes left. After a penalty against us for an accidental trip, Cranleigh pegged back the try count to 4-3 with 1 minute to play. With Barnes kicking off, Cranleigh received and got to halfway line, but we were awarded a penalty, and our forwards took the crash ball it up the middle with the clock in red. We got within five metres and, after two pick and goes we scored again to notch up our 5th try and seal the win 22-32. What a way to get rugby back into the community. 5 points in the first round of the cup, thank you very much!

Under 13's A Team vs Old Cranleighans RFC

A very strong A Team performance resulted in an 8-1 win! There were superb carries at pace by Vincent, Jack A, Sam S, Spencer and Vasily! There was penetrating and evasive running by George B, Andrew and James as well as some powerful contesting of possession by Charlie and Moses. And throughout the match were positive attitudes signalling the team's intent to dominate play from the start by Zac, William T, Zion, Harry and Will, with Sam G-J even turning up though a knock to the head in Friday football meant he could not play.

Another signal was how several players played parts of the game in unfamiliar positions and still commanded those spaces. There were areas for improvement including decision-making on kicks as well as knowing when running straight coupled with a 'draw & pass' is often more destructive than holding on to the ball, running sideways / looking for one more hand off or dummy. All-in-all a very impressive performance, particularly for the collective positive approach and will to compete. The progress this season has been significant, especially when looking at structure and shape. Thanks to all coaches and parents for their positive encouragement of our players on a day that was great fun for all!

Barnes RFC u13's B Team vs Old Rutlishians RFC

Some excellent teamwork and real improvement by our B team at Old Rutlishians, despite leading at half time we lost 9-6 in a great game. Some highlights were Oli's top finishing for a hat trick, Rayan carrying low and powerfully into contact, Henry's bullocking run for his try, the all-round energy and commitment of George L and Richard and a hugely impressive first half of rugby by Alfie only weeks after taking up the game. A great bunch of lads who will only get better with the attitude they are bringing to training and playing for Barnes RFC! We saw improvement in our rucking while areas we'll be looking to work on include our tackling, defence line speed and scrummaging.

Under 12’s squad update

Sunday saw a busy round 1 of their first competitive Surrey Waterfall Cup pool matches. Our “Green” team was expecting to play Dorking’s U12 B team but what turned up at Barn Elms was a mixed A /B visiting team and, having had to make 6 late changes due to Covid and injuries to some key players, it looked a little ominous - but a dogged performance and great second half saw them keep the score to 8 tries against to our 3.

Standout performances this week from Archie as captain, Sammy for being rock solid in the rucks and Tom Hall with some crunching tackles at full back. Meanwhile our “Gold” team entertained London Irish in a spirited 30 points apiece draw; starting and finishing strongly, just relaxing a bit mid-match. But it was a great performance from a team including several new players and a special mention for Nico and Luca for driving the team forward, Aidan leading the backs and tackling from Oscar and Alexey.

Our “Red” team had a training session to absorb the lessons of their tough but competitive earlier match against Old Reigatians A. The start of competitive, full length matches for the age group has both lifted the excitement and intensity of the games but also shown up some areas for focus in training. Overall, a very promising start to the campaign. Next up Rosslyn Park and another Dorking team in two weeks.

[b And finally..... here is a summary of this weekend’s games - [/b]
Saturday 29th January 2022
• Barnes 1st XV vs Esher - 2pm KO
• Barnes 2nd XV vs Esher 2nd XV - 2pm KO
• London Media vs Barnes Occies - 2pm KO
Sunday 30th January 2022
• Barnes Women 1st XV vs TBC - 2pm KO

Do come down and support your club this weekend, they love seeing you!

Onwards and Upwards Barnow!

Michael “Rhino” Whitfield - Chairman Barnes RFC