A tough weekend at the office last time out, with three of our adult teams losing, although our Men’s 2nd XV, The Raiders, were a shining beacon of victory, extending their winning run to six games, overcoming one of their nemesis sides Rams, 34-12.

The Men’s 1st XV travelled to Bury and, despite having an extra player for much of the match, we could not blow their doors down and keep them blown down, despite an awful lot of huffing and puffing, The Women’s 2nd XV lost out on Sunday by a whisker to Hackney Ladies in a top-of-the-table clash 21-15. The Occies has a tough game away at Farnham and went down 65-22 in the end.

This week I know the training has been brutal for all of the senior sides, and I know the Men’s 1st XV will be very keen to get back to winning ways against old friends Henley Hawks, who will be very confident after their thrilling 18-18 draw against Dorking last week. Last season’s encounters with Henley saw us win 31-21 at home and lose 29-12 away, honours even, so I really can’t wait to see how we perform this Saturday!

Onwards and Upwards Barnow!

Michael “Rhino” Whitfield - President Barnes RFC

This week’s fixtures:

• Barnes Men’s 1st XV vs Henley Hawks - 2pm KO

• Barnes Raiders 2nd XV vs Ampthill 2nd XV - 1.30pm KO

• Barnes Originals vs Farnham 3rd XV - 2.15pm KO

Match Reports from Last Week:

Bury St Edmunds 1st XV 25 - 22 Barnes 1st XV - words by Rhino and Bury St Edmunds

Bury vs. Barnes matches are always close, high scoring affairs and although this one was
not so high scoring, none the less it was a highly exciting and tense affair.

Barnes kicked off looking to maintain their recent good form, Bury were seeking to further stretch their recent run of excellent results.
The opening exchanges were rather cagey as both sides sussed each other out. After only 11 minutes Bury’s second row was shown a red card and Barnes took the lead with a penalty from Ben Cook

Barnes seemed to take a boost from further Bury penalties however some dogged midfield Bury defence forced a turnover the home side sprinted to the line for an opportunist try. Bury 7-3 Barnes.

Both sides conceded far too many penalties, and worse still we conceded two yellow cards. Bury converted one of the many penalties awarded to extend their lead to 10-3. Bury scored another try and at 17-3 we were looking away with the fairies.

Barnes being Barnes, we finally decided to go on the front foot and scored with a try from hooker Ethan Sikorski, Josh Davies did the honours and converted to make the half time score 17-10.

Bury kicked off the second half and Barnes kept the ball for several phases and seemed to be going rather lateral until a tired looking Bury defence slipped off a tackle and Captain Fantastic Josh Davies crossed the line, and with Ben Cook slotting the extras we were back in it at 17-17 with two minutes gone!

But then, Bury's scrum began to dominate, more Barnes penalties and then a yellow card to Barnes bought the teams level on player numbers at 14 apiece. Bury battered away at the Barnes defence and were rewarded with a try to take the lead 22-17 with just over 20 minutes to play.

Barnes came back strongly and after numerous phases of both first and second phase possessions began to stretch the Bury defence, which yielded another yellow against Bury.
Bury, now down to 13 men, still defended like demons, eventually the pressure told, and Barnes scored through Pete-The-Meat Weightman, with12 minutes to go – an easy conversion alas went begging but the scores were level again at 22-22.

With the scores tied and time running out the large crowd wondered who could win such an enthralling match.

Both sides looked for the opening however the Bury scrum proved the difference, Referee Boyle awarded Bury a scrum penalty that Penfold converted much to the delight of the Haberden faithful.

That was it, we lost 25-22, it was a game of many many penalties, an unhealthy smattering of yellow cards and was a game to be showing the grandchildren.

Bury thoroughly deserved the win, particularly with only 14 players on the pitch for most of the game after all, we did the same to them last season with only 14 on the pitch! We move on to Henley at home next weekend.

Hackney Ladies 21 - 15 Barnes Women 2nd XV - words by Captain Rosie Price

This weekend the 2nd XV took on Hackney away. We knew heading into it would be a tough game as whoever won would be top of the table. It was a very physical game, and we were all grateful for the week of rain that gave us something soft to land on.

The first half saw both teams mounting on the pressure with Hackney scoring two tries under the posts which game Barnes a renewed determination to push down the pitch and put the pressure on in their 22. A string of 8 penalties in a row from hackney saw them really pushed back and gave Barnes the possession and opportunity to get over the line with a try from Izzy. Barnes turned over 4 line outs which gave us the opportunity to maintain the majority of possession. We grafted away until the half time whistle which gave us to get our heads back in gear as we headed out to the second half.

Continuing in much the same way with a really physical battle all over the pitch and as the wind and rain started to kick in handling errors for both teams crept up resulting in a serious number of scrums with the forwards starting to feel the strain Barnes dug deep scored two tries in the second half. One made from a break from Tess down the wing and finished with a pick and go from Maria and a try from Laura after some great handling from Barnes got the ball out wing quickly allowing her to run round the hackney defence.

A last try from hackney under the posts sealed the deal for Hackney but Barnes kept fighting till the whistle. It was a really impressive shift from the team, we were up against an experienced team with a full bench but in true 2s spirit we dug in and didn’t let it discourage us.

We had some incredible debuts from our two impact players Tess and Lou who headed onto the pitch after 2 weeks at training and slotted right in with the team. We have a couple of weeks off to recover and prepare for the home double header with both teams playing Streatham and Croydon on the 10th of December. Wishing the 1s the best of luck for when they take Hackney on the 3rd of December.

Forward of the match - Neda who put in an incredible defensive shift and despite playing out of position at 8 adapted so well to help us really put the pressure on hackney in the scrums. Forever grateful to have her on our team when I see her tackles!

Back of the match - Livia B who grafted in every way possible and just kept going. Her lines were amazing and won us a lot of territory and defensively made a massive impact.
Players player- Mellie, throwing in line outs in the wind is never easy but somehow, she makes it look effortless. The determination and consistency Mellie brings to the pitch is a real inspiration to the team.

Barnes Raiders 34 - 12 Rams 2nd XV - words by Coach Dom Palacio

Barnes Raiders returned to their league campaign, having further built on their run of victories, beating Old Albanians 2nd XV in a friendly fixture the weekend before, making it 5 wins back-to-back.

Their opponents this time were in-form, Ram Titans, who last season were victorious in both home and away fixtures against us.

The Raiders team saw rotations in the wider men’s squad, with Fly Half - Simon Keller, Scrum Half - Tom Williams and Centre, Paul O’Dell joining the team.

George Gadsby was at the helm again as Captain. And of note - ex Barnes player - Danny John, who ironically now lives in Reading, joined the squad as front row cover.

Club stalwart prop (and supposedly retired from “serious” rugby) - Frank “The Tank” also stepped into the fold for the first time this season.

Rams started strongly and scored first, after 7 minutes. Raiders scrum and lineout were functioning well, and they responded with their first score of the game 6 minutes later, making it 10 points all.

For the remainder of the first half, Raiders dominated possession and would visit the Titans 22 four more times, Titans resilient defense kept the score at 5-5 until the 33rd minute, when Raiders scored the last points of the half, 10-5 to the men in Green and Gold at the break.

The “arm wrestle” between the two teams continued in the second half, seeing The Titans of Reading score and convert one more try.

The Raiders had a strong bench, so as replacements were made, the fresh impetus resulted in the now usual dominance seen in most of our victories this season and we extended our winning streak to 6 games!

The team’s defensive set in the second half was outstanding, overcoming the Titans attack in our 22 on multiple occasions. The final score, 32 -12 to Barnes!

Man-of-the-match was Dev Hope, who scored a brace of tries and made multiple tackles.