A pretty good weekend for the club last weekend, with the Men’s 1st XV overcoming North Walsham in a scrappy encounter 38-19, whilst the Women’s 1st XV dominated their game against Hammersmith and Fulham 2nd XV 70-0, the match being brought to an end 15 minutes early to spare the visitors further damage on the score board. Whilst the Raiders went down valiantly 14-49, their cohorts in the Women’s 2nd XV continued their winning ways, notching up victory on the road 5-38. The Occies travelled to Bec Old Boys, who controversially fielded many of their 1st XV against us, and whilst the lads lost in the end, they stuck valiantly to their task throughout the game.

The Colts lack-lustre performance saw them come up short against Harlequins 15-33 but there were sterling performances from our Boys Under13’s and Under 15’s, whilst the Girls Under 11’s took on Trojans Under 12’s and performed out of their skins. It is an extraordinary club we are part of, most of the match reports are below for your delectation!

This weekend there are two fixtures only. On Saturday the 1st XV play their rearranged fixture against high flying Old Albanians. With the weather claiming the first game before Christmas, we have yet to play OA’s this season, but my gut feeling, based on their results, is that they are a notch or two better than they were last season, when we beat them home and away quite comfortably. This season, we have been neck and next, we have both lost 5 games, and we have won 11 versus their 10, but OAs have a game in hand. This game is really too close to call. Coming off a very strong performance against league leaders Blackheath, which they narrowly lost 33-21, they will be keen to get one over on us. After last week’s staccato Barnes will need to back on song to overcome OA’s. With a growing injury list, this match is going to be a helluva challenge but our boys will be up for it and will guarantee a very warm welcome for the boys from St Albans! Kick off is at 2pm, so you can get down, watch the game, and be back for the England kick off (if you are so inclined!).
On Sunday, the Mighty Woman’s 2nd XV have a cup game against Avonmouth, with Ash Brandon’s team in fine form of late they will be looking to continue that in this match. Kick off at 2pm at Barn Elms.

Enjoy the start of the Six Nations, if you can get down to Barnes on Saturday or Sunday that would be awesome, the players love your support!

Onwards and Upwards Barnow!

Michael “Rhino” Whitfield - Chairman Barnes RFC

Barnes Men’s 1st XV 38-19 North Walsham
A scrappy encounter saw Barnes ease to a 38-19 but to North Walsham’s credit they continued to battle throughout and were competitive at all times, and only the solid defence of the home team kept them from scoring the bonus point fourth try. Barnes were uncharacteristically error-prone and this allowed the visitors to capitalise on the several errors, particularly in the first half.

Barnes started brightly and seemed in control from the kick off, and after a series of phases Giles Bromley-Martin handed off his opposite number to score the first try of the afternoon to score after only six minutes. The visitors were right back at Barnes and when fly-half Matthew Hodgson sold a dummy, the Barnes defence opened up for him to off load to Ethan Sikorski to dot down under the posts. With Hodgson converting it was all square at 7-7 after 12 minutes.

Six minutes later, after a patient build up from Barnes, Alex March emerged from the back of the maul and scored, Louis again converting to regain the lead 14-7. Frustratingly for the home fans, Barnes failed to gather a kick and knocked on in their 22, giving North Walsham an attacking scrum from which the ball went along the line to winger James Riley who scored in the corner, Hodgson continued his excellent afternoon off the tee with the conversion, making it all square again after 24 minutes.

Barnes went back their patient build up play, and prop Rory Marsh crashed over in the 32nd minute, Ellis again converting to restore the Barnes lead at 21-14. Barnes built on this position and right on half time Ryan Nixon went over, with the conversion missed the home team went in 26-14 up at the break.
To consolidate their lead Barnes need to score first, but it was North Walsham who added further frustration with winger Dan Smith jinking through the Barnes defence to score in the 44th minute, it was to prove the visitors last score of the game, but it took them back in touching distance at 26-19.

The rest of the half was played at pace, both sides attacking, both sides making errors but it was Barnes that continued to prosper, with Alex March adding his second try of the game after 50 minutes, Ellis converting and then a final try from Miles Lloyd on 73 minutes.

Barnes Women’s 1st XV 70 - 0 Hammersmith and Fulham 2nd XV - words by Captain Ruth Mottershead
H+F are new into our league after promotion from NC2 last season, and with our 1’s aiming for promotion into the championship there was a slight mismatch. We came into the game from a really strong week of training, and were ruthless in our execution of the new red zone playing structure.

It was a runaway victory for Barnes, with the game eventually being called after around 65 minutes at 70-0. We had a hat trick of hat tricks from Taz, Amanda and Liv, with further scores coming from Ruth, El and Morv.

Highlights of the game include Carys with a monster fend, strong running lines from Jenn and Beans, massive tackles across the squad and a great line out steal from Chedwards.

Full credit to H+F for a spirited performance and never letting their heads drop.

Forward of the match this week was Taz for a classic impressive performance. Back of the match was Ruth, and players player went to El, who ran some incredible lines despite being fresh off tour.

The squad is now preparing to face Chobham at home on 12th Feb. We narrowly won against them away, so the return fixture promises to be exciting. We remain undefeated at home with only 1 loss this season, and a win on the 12th would keep us on course to top the league.

Trojans Under Girls 12’s vs Barnes Girls Under 11’s - words by Boris Pomroy
Having already beaten off the best that London and Surrey could offer, our mighty Barnes U11 girls ventured down to the south-coast in search of a new challenge courtesy of Trojans RFC. Having already heard rumours of the ‘Beasts of Barnes’, Trojans decided they would put up their U12’s team to see if they could succeed where so many others had failed.

After a friendly joint training session, the girls took to their ends and the battle commenced. It was certainly a more physical counter than they had been used to - but after a minute or two of midfield battling, the ball was spun out to the wing and we had our first try. By half time we’d crossed the line another five times, with Trojans managing to grab a couple of scores themselves. The second half followed a similar pattern, with the final score 11-4 to our travelling warriors.

A huge thanks to Trojans for hosting us with such warmth and to Sophia from Winchester RFC, who having seen our girls in action at the Richmond festival, asked her Mum if she could come and play with us. Our girls are back in action at the Reeds festival in March.

Coaching the Coaches – words by Chris Williams
I don’t often praise the 158 volunteer parent coaches that create so much fun and rugby excitement every weekend for our Minis, Juniors and Colts, but now is that time! As part of the benefits of being a coach, besides the much-sought-after coaches swag, are the five Coach-the-Coaches mid-week sessions held in the Clubhouse during the season. Last Wednesday, over 50 coaches congregated for a specialist session on Sports Psychology for kids, led by Matt Saich (Under 11’s Coach), and a case study on applying it to elite teams, led by Tony Rea, based on his coaching experience with Lebanon Rugby League team in the recent World Cup. Zoe put on the additional draw of a Burns Night Supper that made it a memorable night for all! The key takeaways from that session were:
• Our ethos is spot on, encouraging participation in sport and staying in sport as long as possible. It’s the will to win that counts, not the winning itself.
• Communication is key. Encourage coaching at an individual level according to different learning paces and styles. Letting the kids take control of communication on the pitch, while coaches and parents try their best to be as supportive as possible.
• Kids (still) love wearing kit!

A big thank you to Matt and Tony who launched the Coach-the-Coaches series seven years ago and have helped Barnes Youth grow as a healthy and inclusive community club.
And thanks to all the coaches for taking the time to develop themselves, in order to support the kids to be the best versions of themselves on and off the pitch.

Barnes Under 13’s - words by Peter Thomas
The Under 13’s put out two teams for Surrey cup matches at home on Sunday. The Under 13’s A team took on Chobham Under 13’s A in their first competitive cup match of the season, who went two tries up as we started slowly. But Barnes then stepped up their tackling against some big Chobham players and went on to win convincingly, 6 tries to 3 (30-15). As well as the courageous tackling, it was great to see some structure taking shape in the forwards play, and also impressive attacking out wide, including one fantastic try with the ball passing through the hands of much of the team before the score. All in all, a very pleasing performance.
Meanwhile, on the adjacent pitch, the Under 13’s B team faced what may well be their toughest assignment of the season, taking on a Reeds Weybridge Under 13’s A team who have crept into the intermediate B team division. They had a tough morning, eventually losing 6 tries to nil, although they kept the score to 0-1 for a good period and were competitive in most areas of the game. Barnes Under 13’s B team played with creditable team spirit to the end, and managed to score a couple of tries after the official scoring was concluded at 0-6. With a previous win under their belts, the Under 13’s B team is still well-placed in the competition.

Barnes Under 15’s vs Battersea Ironsides Under 15’s – words by Chris Williams
Great to get our first U15 fixture if 2023 under our belt. A well drilled Battersea Ironsides A were our visitors and no mugs too, we have injuries at 9 & 10 due to growing pains so we used our plan B. R&R (Ruck and Run) to get in behind their defence and it stopped Battersea from playing, they could not set a defence to that plan, we were unlucky not to go in at HT 2 - 1 up but were held up for a try. The second half was slightly different, they kicked when in possession due not being able to breach our defence, those kicks caught our wingers off guard, defending too deep, and they were able to score off two kick chases. Barnes rallied, and got one back before we ran out of time with the game finishing 2 tries to 3 in Battersea’s favour. It was great fun and we settled for a bonus point loss although a bit of honesty is needed in the backs!

Barnes Colts 15-33 Harlequins Amateurs Colts - words by Chris Williams
In the first round of the Quins Cup, Barnes Colts went down in a disappointing 15 - 33 home defeat to Harlequins Amateurs Colts. The first half was an even contest, but we lost our way in a scrappy second period. We hoped our five subs would add fresh legs and new impetus, but we lost some momentum and had to make a few more changes due to injuries. A long lunch in the clubhouse followed by a squad trip to London Irish vs Harlequins was a welcome respite! Rugby – particularly participation in rugby - was the winner.

Mitcham and Carshalton 5-38 Barnes Women’s 2nd XV - words by Captain Ash Brandon
The women’s section recorded a successive double win weekend, with the 1st XV clocking up a big margin against Hammersmith and Fulham at Barnes, while the 2nd XV put in a huge shift against a much improved Mitcham and Carshalton team away at their South London grounds.

For the first few minutes it was clear that M&C were up for the challenge as they pinned us in our half on the muddy and windy pitch. We absorbed the initial pressure and it wasn’t long before a series of forwards punches (marshalled well by Izzy and Angie) set us up for a beautiful run through from Jam to score our first try of the day. From there it was Barnes on the attack with a couple of nifty tries being run in, starting with our very own VC Maria, who looks to have found her spot at 12 as she brushed off defenders to find plenty of open space for an easy trot to the try line.

The fantastic work from the forwards, who kept structures holding firm, set up a very nice platform for the backs to run in the tries. Joss and Rosie fronted up well as leaders in the pack, pushing the charge at lineout time, carrying hard and being a right old nuisance at the breakdowns. M&C had a player with a great boot who kept testing our scramble defence, but Laura was all over it, and it wasn’t long before some superb interplay between Laura and Jayne off a gathered clearance saw Jayne flying down the wing to dot down and add another try to the tally that was converted by Izzy. M&C 0 – 17 Barnes Women’s 2s. M&C tried to find space through the middle of the pitch but Henners and Sophie were having none of it. So they tried the edges but Meli, playing out of her usual forwards position closed them down quickly on the wing.

After a series of really confusing scrums with M&C accidentally kicking the ball out of the tunnel repeatedly for about 5 minutes, we were able to get the game flowing again, but an unfortunate knock on meant that we had to set up for another scrum on our 22m for M&C to put the ball in. Again, it popped out of the tunnel, but the ref was on the wrong side and didn’t see it, however M&C jumped on the missed call and powered up the pitch. We were running backwards and struggled to get into position which led to a penalty as we couldn’t roll away from the tackle quick enough, giving M&C an attacking position a few meters off the try line. They threw one of their strongest players at the line off the tap-and-go, who managed to reach out to put the ball near enough to the whitewash for the ref to award a try. Shortly after that the half drew to a close at 5 - 17.

The second half wasn’t as easy a start as the first, with M&C holding us away from the try line for a very long spell until Player’s player of the day Izzy saw a gap in their defensive line and managed to truck up the field to score and convert her own try. An arm wrestle commenced after this, with great use of territorial kicks from both parties, giving Neda the chance to throw in some good darts in our attacking lineouts, while Rosie posed an aggressive and focused arial threat in defensive lineouts.

But it was M&C who seemed the more settled team in open play. They pushed us back to our try line where we valiantly defended for about 5 minutes to hold them out long enough to force an error, with a knock on giving us breathing space to get out of hot water. We did unfortunately lose a player to a yellow card for our troubles following a series of high tackles in the game, which culminated in a team yellow during our huge try line defence.

Out of the danger zone though, we reset our structures and Tara bulldozed her way through/between/over multiple players to suck in the defence so that we were able to get quick ball out to the backs to utilise the space that was being created out wide. It was Laura’s turn to score next as she pirouetted clear through 2 defenders to score for us. Izzy converted and we were up to 5 - 31, with a few minutes left on the yellow card.

We continued to tussle with M&C as the clock wore down and with a full complement of players back on the pitch we set up the final score of the day with some lovely hands swinging the ball out to Jayne on the wing, who zoomed down the tramlines again for her second try of the day, which Izzy’s reliable boot smashed between the posts for the extras. 5 - 38 to us!

Shortly after, and following a comical moment from Forward of the Match (and dick of the day) Kate that involved a Roadrunner-esque wind up in the wrong direction before her compass recalibrated and she ran at the defence, an unfortunate knock to one of the M&C players drew the game to a close a few minutes short. Back to the clubhouse for pizza and match pints, and scritches for the cute pups that had been patiently waiting on the side lines all game.

It was really impressive to see the difference from M&C in the last few weeks. They were strong at the breakdowns, used their solid kicking ability to their advantage and took as many opportunities as they could to put us under pressure, which meant at times, even though we were enjoying the game, we did lose our shape a little, but that is a big testament to the resolute attitude of the M&C players. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to share banter, beers and good run around with them again next season.

Forward of the match: Kate Weighell - strong carries, big defence and comedy gold!
Back of the Match: Jamilla Torres - scoring the opening try, some huge carries and playing multiple positions throughout the game.
Players' player: Izzy Jackson - controlling the game, being patient with the forwards and running and in converting her own try.

The 2’s have an important game at home this Sunday 5th Feb, as Avonmouth travel up to us for the Intermediate plate tournament fixture.

It's sure to be a fun one, so please make sure you get along to cheer the women's section!

on!

Kick Off is 2.30pm

Barnes Raiders Rams

The first game for the Raiders in over 2 weeks, with frozen pitches having scuppered last Saturday's fun, saw them take on Reading Rams whose 1st team sit 2nd in National League 1.

The travelling Rams team were an impressive lineup of players who have played plenty of National league rugby, as well as current and past full time players!

Raiders with zero forward replacements available, on paper were in for a tough afternoon.

With typical Barnow tenacity, the Raiders coaches, and Skipper Humphreys, stoked the passion and fire up the squad and entered the field, very much like they did vs the strong Richmond championship-esque team a few weeks earlier.

With bags of guile and patience in defence, the Raiders held their own in the first half to end it at 14 -14, simply outstanding given the disadvantage the team had on paper!

At 70 minutes Rams were still fighting hard and scored 2 further tries, doubling their score to take a 14 - 28. Raiders came close to making it a one score game, but alas the ball was deemed to be knocked on by our hooker in the close quarter grappling between the two teams.

Rams depth in strength at the end saw them add three further tries in quick succession, making the final score 14-49, a very complimentary score under the circumstances!

Special mentions to Danny John, who played 80 minutes with a stinking cold! and ex- BRFC player - Matt Brittain, who came to spectate, but was then convinced to join the fray at half time!