Barnes defied the artic conditions last week and completed all of the adult fixtures, the Men’s games played on the all-weather pitch at Rosslyn Park, whilst our Women’s 2nd XV played at Ealing.

The Men’s 1st XV played Guernsey for the second time this season, having won the first encounter 24-26 on the island earlier in the season, and this time blew the Raiders away with an exquisite first half performance, winning much more comfortably than the final score of 26-14 suggests, and finish the year in 2nd place in National League 2 East, we would definitely have taken that at the beginning of the season! Next games for the 1’s is away at Dorking on 7th January, and we owe them because we lost by 1 point at the death at Barnes early in the season.

The Men’s 2nd XV played in a high scoring encounter against a strong Blackheath 2nd XV (much stronger than when we beat them earlier in the season!) and came second 31-43 in a very entertaining curtain raiser to the 1st XV game. On Sunday our Women’s 2nd XV recorded one of their best wins of the season 0-17 away to Ealing Trailfinders, who will be in the Allianz Premiership next season, so it was a brilliant result.

This week there is only one game, but what a game it is with Barnes gathering together an Under 22's side to play in the Smith/Shenton Cup and we kick off tomorrow night (Thursday 22nd) away at Chobham, with a 7pm kick off, you can read more about it below.

For Barnes RFC it has a very good first half of the season, but I know that for many off the pitch life has been incredibly tough, on behalf of myself and the club I want to wish you and and your family a peaceful, warm and loving Christmas, please always know that the Green and Gold are always here for you.

Much love over the festive season.

Rhino x

Michael "Rhino" Whitfield - Barnes RFC

Barnes RFC Men’s 1st XV 26 - 14 Guernsey Raiders
With Barn Elms frozen solid, Barnes RFC played Guernsey on Rosslyn Park’s all-weather pitch. The home team’s performance was sublime for 45 minutes, and their pace in attack and physicality in defence did not allow Raiders to settle at all. On a day when many would have no doubt preferred to have stayed in front of the fire watching Christmas movies, we attracted our biggest crowd of the season and the players put on a master class in the first half, taking a 14-0 lead within 8 minutes, courtesy of tries from Cam Roberts and Paul O’Dell, both tries converted by George Makepeace-Cubitt.

The waves of Barnes attacks, and the brutality of their tackling was too much for Guernsey, who were unable to get their hands on the ball.
Despite the freezing conditions, Barnes continued to turn up the heat throughout the half and were rewarded with a third try scored by Paddy McDuell, again the result of the forwards intensity in the opposition half, he still had a lot of work to do as the ball swept along the line but jinked off both feet to slice through the Raiders defence. Makepeace-Cubitt added the extra points and Barnes moved into a 21-0 lead, which they held until the halftime break.

The Green and Gold started the second half much like the first, their forwards and backs too hot to handle for the visitors, and the forwards and backs combined well for Cam Hudson to use a sleight of hands to bamboozle his defender and score to take the score to an unassailable 26-0 lead, the conversion missed. Guernsey did raise their game well in the last quarter for Ethan Smith and Dominic Rice to score on 60 and 64 minutes but in truth the game was over after Barnes scored their fourth bonus point try.
A good end to the first half of the season and Barnes can be very satisfied with their league position entering 2023.

Ealing Trailfinders 0 - 17 Barnes Women’s 2nd XV - words by Captain Ashley Brandon
Although the rain on Sunday was welcome as it washed away the remnants of ice from the previous Sunday’s snowfall, it certainly did make for some interesting rugby in our final game of the year. The Mighty 2’s travelled to Vallis Way to take on Ealing Trailfinders (who we would like to congratulate on being included in next season’s Allianz premiership league) and finish off 2022 with a big W.

It was positively Baltic as the players took to the pitch, but the forwards soon warmed up with some big carries while the backs waited patiently for their opportunity to strike. It was a gritty contest from the off with Ealing’s big players running hard and crashing the ball into our defensive line, but we were resolute and held them out long enough to secure a good few carries of our own. We spent a lot of time in Trailfinders’ half but couldn’t convert the territory into points, mainly due to the conditions – cold hands and slippery rugby balls are a rubbish combination!

But after some big phases of play from the forwards to punch up the middle we freed some space for Liv and Beans to jink around and through defenders to get us up close to the try line. More bashing by the forwards saw Rosie crossing the whitewash for her first try for Barnes. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to convert but we restarted and went back to work. Ealing looked very threatening at times and their forwards made a lot of strong pushes at our defence, but we managed to shut down any opportunities they created to get the ball out to their backs through some incredible tackles from our backline. Although we spent most of the rest of the second half shivering in Ealing’s half, it was a huge battle and they were resolute, holding us to just the one score as the halftime whistle blew!

At half time Andy and Chris offered wisdom on how to get us across the last few meters and after much of the same from the first half, we were able to generate space on the edge for Syd to power down the left wing to score her first try for Barnes too. Ealing 0 - 10 Barnes.

We had a strong line up and in the horrible conditions it was a blessing to be able to rotate players in and out to keep us fresh and ready. Annie, who was only meant to play a little bit in the second half but who had been on the pitch for most of the game despite being deathly hung over (and had played most positions in the forwards by the second half) got her just rewards in the final play of the game following a sizzling crash through the defence from Bigland to get us up to within about 10m of the try line. A penalty at the breakdown meant that we set up for a pen and although we all thought captain Izzy was going to cross the try line after switching into 9 from 10, she was chopped just short and we set up phases to bring us gradually closer to the try zone, which created a fantastic pick-and-go opportunity for Annie to punch through and plant the ball over the line near the posts. Carys, who had been hassling Ealing’s lineouts superbly all game, stepped up to kick the conversion and give us the final score of 17 unanswered points to finish off the match.

A huge shout out needs to go to Meli for squeezing in to hook between the towering Tara and Kate, who were solid anchors. The scrums were tough and not well managed, but the girls in the front row held strong! Sasha, who stepped in to captain the team for a spell after half time was immense as always, carrying hard and flattening the opposition like cardboard boxes. Julie had a stormer at 8, sniping around the blindside a few times to gain valuable meters, while Joss made a couple of powerful breaks up the middle of the pitch.

Angie made some beautiful line breaks on the wing, with her savage pace and deceptive power to get outside the Trailfinders defence. Liv and Zoe worked brilliantly at 13 and 14 and despite taking each other out a few times, made some silky runs between defenders. They also managed to close down the real threat that former Barnes player Jess posed as Ealing’s fullback. Our own fullback Laura might just have thawed out her Aussie bones by now but did brilliantly in covering even the slightest sniff of Ealing making a break in our half. Zoe J and El changed the game up in the second half with their kicks and solid carries, with El putting in an absolute shift in defence during her short stint on the pitch.

It was a great way to close out what has been an up-and-down season for the 2’s. Despite some challenging games though, the spirit in the team is something special and the cohesion between the players on and off the pitch is undoubtedly a fortified base to build from for the second half of the season. I said at the start of the season that we were building from our defeats and games like Sunday just show how much the team is clicking and growing from those initial defeats. The progression of our newer players this season is impressive, and we can’t wait to see what they can do in the second half of the season if they’re already this good after only the first half.

Thanks to Coaches Andy and Chris for freezing their extremities off on Sunday to guide the team, and to all the 1’s, family and friends who came down to support the 2’s in truly vile conditions. And a shout out to Syd’s mate Deniz who took some brilliant shots of the game.

Forward of the match went to Carys for strong carries, some crucial jackals and just generally being a nuisance at lineout time.

Back of the match went to Syd for an impressive amount of work out on the wing and a well-earned try.

Players player was Rosie for consistent carries and that solid opening try which set the standard for the rest of the game.

We are looking forward to a nice break now and can’t wait to be back out on the pitch in the New Year for more of the same. From the women’s section at Barnes, we would like to wish everyone a lovely restful festive period with family and friends and to thank you for all your support, we can’t wait to see you again for the second half of the season!

Under 22’s Smith/Shenton Cup - crossing the chasm to Barnes Adults - words by Chris Williams and Jason Betteley
This is the 15th year since the advent of Barnes Minis. With 650 members the Youth section is becoming a powerhouse among formidable local competition. This festive season we will welcome back a number of Under 21s (featured above at the City Lunch, May-22) to compete in the Surrey U21 competition for the first time versus Chipstead in January 2023. That competition is held in the University holidays and Christmas and Easter to encourage players to reconnect with their local rugby clubs.

There are 35 Colts players right behind them, comprising Under 17s and Under 18s, who had a strong first term as a combined squad with notable wins against Streatham, Chipstead and Reeds. The Colts enter the Quins Cup in the Spring and look forward to a summer tour to Malta! These players are coached by 1st XV hooker, Cameron Ruddock, with oversight from Jack Heald, Barnes Director of Rugby.

First, a bit of background to the Surrey Under 21's Cup competition:

As far as I understand, Surrey RFU has been running an U21 competition for quite a few years called the John Douglas Cup. The players are usually made up of former Colts players who have gone off to University etc. and the purpose of the competition is to keep these Uni based players connected to their home club whilst they’re all away. The matches are played over the Xmas and New Year holidays, with a Finals Day on Easter Monday.
For the past two seasons it’s been an Under 22’s Cup competition, in order to include the U22 age group who missed out on competitive matches due to covid.
Next year it will go back to being an Under 21 Cup competition. As you may know, we don’t have any Under 22’s (yet!) so our squad will be made up of Under 19’s and Under 21’s.
The original 12 x clubs in the John Douglas Cup were: Old Reigatians, Cobham, Richmond, Esher (the 4 top seeds) as well as Dorking, Sutton and Epsom, Guildford, Battersea Ironsides, Old Wimbledonians, KCS Old Boys, Old Ruts and Old Walcountians.
This season, due to a number of other clubs increasing their numbers at Under 21 level, Surrey decided to create a parallel competition called the Surrey Under 22’ Smith/Shenton Cup.
This Cup also has 12 clubs in it (with no seeds).
The clubs are: Barnes, Chobham, Chipstead, London Irish, Wimbledon, Haslemere, Twickenham, Camberley, Reeds Weybridge, Old Cats, Old Whitgiftians and Farnham.
These 12 have been split into 4 groups of 3 teams, and our group is Barnes, Chobham and Chipstead, with matches over Christmas and New Year’s, with a Finals Day on Easter Monday (Monday 10th April 2023).

Dates over Christmas and New Year’s
As you can imagine, getting a group of university lads to commit to being back home, all at the same time over the festive season, and then agreeing those dates with the opposition, has been a tad difficult but we’re there and our first fixture is tomorrow at Chobham - 7pm KO!
We’ve got a squad of 24 players for tomorrow night, Jack Heald and Chris Browne will be coaching them, and they will be wearing the Men’s 1st XV kit.

There is a coach leaving Barnes at about 4pm to go to Chobham if you fancy it, other wise do try and get to Chobham for the game, it is our future right before your eyes, and it is fair to say that the Colts supremo Jason Betteley is beyond excited!