The Men’s 1st XV played their game against Dorking on the all-weather pitch at Cobham and won one of the best games ever played by the Green and Gold 33-38 with a try in the last second of the game, and our Women’s 2nd XV crushed Kilburn Cosmos 49-0 - both brilliant games, both are reported below.

I make no apologies for my own very long, and somewhat over-excited report on the Men’s 1st XV, it was cathartic, and it allowed me to come down from the high of last Saturday! Aside all of that I may never live to see a game of that quality and excitement again in my lifetime, so it needed the full monty!

This weekend is the 15th Annual Vets Lunch in honour of Past President Neil-Bruce Copp, and we take on old friends North Walsham, as we did coincidentally on the same weekend last season. It will be a full house of 150 raucous ex-players and friends talking over past glories, it is always a very special day of the year for the club.

On Saturday there are 3 other adult fixtures, the Raiders take on Chinnor at Barn Elms, whilst the Occies travel to Kingston and the Women’s 2nd XV make a very welcome Saturday appearance, travelling to play Old Ruts in a morning kick off.

On Sunday, the Women’s 1st XV is back in action against Blackheath, which will be an epic encounter!

So, lots of rugby for you to enjoy, please do feel free to come down and support the games at home on both Saturday and Sunday, the players absolutely love seeing you hollering from the touchline.

May all of the sides play in the original spirit that we so love at Barnes RFC!

Onwards and Upwards Barnow!

Michael “Rhino” Whitfield - President Barnes RFC

Here are this weekend’s fixtures in detail:

Saturday 27th January Fixtures

• Barnes Men’s 1st XV vs North Walsham 1st XV - 2pm KO

• Barnes Raiders (2nd XV) vs Chinnor 2nd XV - 2pm KO

• Kingston vs Barnes Occies – 2pm KO

• Old Ruts Ladies vs Barnes Women 2nd XV - 11am KO

Sunday 28th January Fixture

• Blackheath Ladies 1st XV vs Barnes Women’s 1st XV - 2pm KO

Dorking 1st XV 33 - 38 Barnes Men’s 1st XV - words by Rhino
In the 34 years that I have been part of Barnes Rugby Club, I have seen a few unbelievable games.

Beating Bury and Hertford to secure promotion, beating Exmouth and Dorking to escape relegation, beating Richmond at their place (the night of the notorious “asbestos hut” chant from Richmond countered by the “Green Army” Green Army!” chant from the Barnow massif - and of course who could forget beating Redruth away a few seasons back in the first game in January 2022 - all remarkable games in their own right but that game last Saturday against Dorking, played on the all-weather pitch at Cobham RFC, was other worldly IMHO!

Firstly I would like to thank all at Dorking RFC, including Director of Rugby Armand Roux, and all at Barnes, including our Director of Rugby Jack Heald and Fixture Secretary and club legend Christy Pickering for working hard together to make sure we got the game going, with so many throughout England being cancelled due to frozen pitches. With both sides hampered by long injury rosters, I am sure it would have been easy for both sides to have crawled back under the duvet with a deep sigh of relief - but not Barnes and Dorking, we are both so highly competitive and the opportunity to take the prized scalp required no other motivation to play. And boy, was that effort rewarded!

In our three previous encounters over the last two season, we have lost all three games, 26-25, 13-17 and 29-31 - all heart-breaking late losses, all the matches could have gone either way, but they went to Dorking. It was becoming a massive monkey on our back, no-one wanted to acknowledge the monkey, but we all knew it was there – big and bloody hairy!
The game went by at the speed of light, the pace from both sides was utterly relentless, from start to finish.

Having absorbed the initial Dorking pressure, Barnes patiently attacked in the Dorking last quarter, repeatedly picking and driving to suck in the defence which allowed fly-half Tom Wilstead to unleash a laser like long pass which picked out winger Paul O’Dell to give us a 0-5 lead.

Dorking were swift to respond, a text-book lineout move the backs seeing the ball zipping wide to Tom Howe who burst through several tackles to even things up.
With Henry Anscombe adding the conversion Dorking to the lead 7-5.

And so, it was for the whole 80 minutes, back and forward, give and take, thrust and parry, it was an extraordinary game, played at searing pace, no quarter given or taken by either side.

After a period of Dorking pressure, Barnes turned the ball over and scored through hooker Ethan Sikorski and, with Tom Wilstead having tuned in his kicking radar, the extras were added, and we snatched back the lead 7 -12.

In this end to end match, it was then Dorking’s turn to score as following a kick through by Craig Holland, Jonny Ellis popped up on the end of a backline move for their second try out wide right, making it 12-12, but then O’Dell scored again putting Barnes ahead 12-17 on the 30 minute mark. Dorking’s forwards upped their game, disrupting our set piece for the first time in the half. Holland scored and Anscombe converted to give Dorking a half time lead of 19-17 surely they weren’t going to turn us over again.

If the first half was breathtaking and electric, the second half was at a level none of us could have expected, and only could have dreamed of. The tempo was turbo charged, the players ridiculously skilled, even when they inevitably tired.

As we went in the second fantasy rugby period, a most appropriate song would have been: “You ain’t seen nothing yet” by Bachman Turner Overdrive!

From the kick off, the ball bounced unkindly for Dorking on the artificial surface. With the Barnes pack rampaging towards the line, Dorking could not secure possession and prop Ollie Tack crashed over to score. With Wilstead on target again, we were back in front 19-24 and the momentum shifted back to us.

Of course, Dorking bounced straight back, after a period of intense, a penalty saw Dorking kick to touch and the resulting catch and drive saw Joel Grant barrel over the line and, with Anscombe’s conversion good, Dorking retook the lead 26-24.

Five minutes later in a series of similar plays in Dorking’s half - penalty - line out -catch and drive, it was then Barnes’ turn to score with James Gallagher the try scorer. Wilstead converted and we retook the lead 26-31.

By this stage both sets of supporters were completely dizzy and giddy with the excitement and topsy-turvy nature of the game, it was like being on some dreadful loop-the-loop roller coaster, we all wanted to get off it, but we just couldn’t. As the game hurtled towards its denouement, we simply sat there in the carriage as the roller coaster ratcheted slowly up the vertical slope, waiting for us to be catapulted down the other side - one set of supporters would be ecstatic, one would be devastated - and then bloody Dorking scored through Tom Bloomer, and took the lead 33-31 with no time left to speak of.

The plastic pitch took its toll, as players unfamiliar with the demands of the surface began to tire, and the intensity of the game naturally slowed ever so slightly with errors creeping into both sides’ play.

Despite being on the losing side on our last three occasions against Dorking, and also being behind here, this time it felt different, there was a patient calm and grim determination etched on the faces of the green and gold warriors.

We were given another chance from a line out, we caught the ball, and drove it forward towards the Dorking line, as we had done on several occasions before during the game.
The final coup de grâce was delivered by the muscular Ben Christie, who twisted and turned and refused to be stopped before he crashed over the line for the winning score, converted by Wilstead.

With no time for the restart, it was ecstatic jubilation for Barnes and utter heartbreak for Dorking, the final score was 33-38.

We needed this win badly against Dorking, it has rejuvenated our enthusiasm for the rest of the season, watch out Dorking and Esher, we are snapping at your heels!

This weekend we play North Walsham in the Annual Vets Lunch fixture at Barn Elms - see you there!

Barnes 2nd XV 49 - 0 Kilburn Cosmos - words by Captain Rosie Price

This weekend the 2nd XV took on Kilburn Cosmos at home.

The conditions were pretty rough with Storm Isha at ravaging BEST, nevertheless we headed out in good spirits ready to chalk up our 3rd victory in row and maintain our spot at the top of the table.

The first half saw us make a slightly slow start with possession flicking back and forward between the teams, although the play stayed firmly within Kilburn’s 22 and, after 10 minutes and some excellent execution of the set piece, Maria headed over the white line which opened the floodgates, and we found our groove.

We saw tries from Rosie, another 2 from Maria, Marianna, and Oliva G. We kept Kilburn pinned within their own half, and some cracking defensive work saw us shutting down any plans they had to exit.

A couple of unfortunate kick offs from Kilburn saw us able to take some scrums and finely polish our set piece moves. The first half finished with everyone windswept and gunning for a second half full of tries.

The second half kicked off in the same fashion, although Kilburn received, they were unable to gain momentum to create a pressured attack. The defensive shift was hard, they had some strong runners and created some 2-on-1’s out wide but our ability to adapt to the challenge presented and have great support with people going into tackles together or ensuring that we were drifting across effectively.

Due to injuries from Kilburn, we dropped down to 13 players which meant we had to work harder to cover the pitch. Our impact players came onto the pitch with incredible energy and were integral to the team’s success. The second half saw a second try from Olivia, a first try for Barnes from Manako, and a try for Angie on her first fixture back from injury.

The entire shift put in by the team was incredible, the support lines we ran allowed us to be a real threat on the pitch and leave the oppo unsure of our next move!

We knew the work we put in this week would be integral for our match next weekend, and we rose to the challenge! Next week, we will take on Old Rutlishians at their place, which will be one of our toughest fixtures this season so far, however we are sure Old Ruts will be able to drown their sorrows with us after the game?

Players Player of the match was Maria, her ability to create, find and manipulate space on the field is so impressive. After scoring a hat trick in the first half, it couldn’t be anyone else!!

The Forward of the Match was Fiona, although it was only her second match of rugby, Fiona stuck in and committed fully to every aspect of the game.

The Back of the Match was Izzy, our trusted fly-half managed the game exceptionally, keeping us all inline and onside.