On Saturday, the Men travelled to Kent and were involved in a mudfest on a ropey looking Sevenoaks pitch, the final score 8-10 to Barnes (there being zero score from either side in the second half!) whilst on Sunday the Women put on an exhilarating show, scoring 35 unanswered points in the first half against East London Vixens. The final score was 15-47 to the Green and Gold – a brilliant away performance, which included five tries for the league’s top scorer Liv Ponsford.

The Outriders also notched up a fabulous result, overcoming Dorking 2nd XV 36-26 - what an inaugural season these lads are having!

The match reports are all below.

This weekend the Men’s and Women’s 1st XVs are back in action again, the Men at home on Saturday against Westcombe Park whilst the Women are also at home on Sunday, when they take on Thamesians, Both the Men’s 2’s and Occies are away on Saturday, the 2s face Richmond Vikings, always a joy, whilst the Occies travel to Chipstead.

Last time we faced Westcombe Park was at their place in November, and we lost 36-26 so the lads will be out to continue their current winning run, and hopefully exact revenge for that defeat last year.

Park have been unpredictable this season, winning 3 and losing 3 games since Christmas, just like us to be honest, but they were convincing winners against Guernsey last Saturday, running out 47-22 winners, and they beat Bury by a point 30-29 a couple of weeks before that. So they are no mugs at all and we will need to be right on our mettle to have a chance of beating them.

In our first game in November we simply didn’t show up at all in the first half, trailing 26-0 at the break, and it got worse as Park extended their lead to 33-0 before we woke up and scored 4 unanswered tries to add a degree of respectability to the final scoreline of 36-26, but, in truth, it was still a shellacking and we have a lot of respect for this talented side from Kent, who sit just a couple of places behind us in National League 2 East, and their lads will be keen to do the double on us.

We will, of course, be just as keen to prevent that happening at Barn Elms this Saturday, and, with hopefully drier conditions and some warmer Saturday afternoons ahead of us for the rest of the season, I am sure our lads are excited and really up for this game!

Please do gt down on Saturday and Sunday to support our men and women, they love it when you do.

Onwards and Upwards Barnow!

For Rugby! For Friendship! For Life!

Michael “Rhino” Whitfield - President Barnes Rugby Club

Here are this weekend’s fixtures in detail:
Saturday 28th February Fixtures
• Barnes Men’s 1st XV vs Westcombe Park 1st XV - 2pm KO
• Richmond Vikings vs Barnes Men’s 2nd XV - 2pm KO
• Chipstead vs Barnes Occies - 2pm KO
Sunday 1st March Fixture
• Barnes Women’s 1st XV vs Thamesians Ladies - 2pm KO

East London Vixens Ladies 1st XV 10 - 47 Barnes Women’s 1st XV - words by Co-Captain Kitty Robinson
On Sunday, Barnes Women 1st XV traversed London to take on East London Vixens. On our last meeting, at home in November, Barnes won convincingly 64-0 but we knew they would be a stronger team at home.

Ruth opened the scoring just 3 minutes in after a quick turnover from the kick off and then a well worked ball by the backs.

Barnes continued with clinical, structured play. The forwards made good ground through strong carries and the backs easily outpaced theirs. Compounded penalties resulted in a yellow card for East London which Barnes capitalised on and the score at half time was 35-0 after tries from Fiona, Liv, Sasha and Noor.

To their credit, East London came out after half time with a renewed vigour. Their defence became much stronger, and they were quicker to the breakdowns resulting in a number of turnovers. Barnes became a bit complacent and unforced errors allowed East London in for 2 tries making the score 35-10.

Barnes soon pulled their socks up again, reset and hit back strong. Despite also being on the receiving end of a team yellow card, Barnes played fast, free flowing rugby and went over for two more tries.

Liv Ponsford expertly converted 5 of the 7 tries scored.

The final score was 47-10.

The coaches awarded their player of the match to Coz for her excellent work in the front row and round the park.

Forward of the match went to Sasha who held up two tries and made a number of turnovers.

Back of the match was awarded to Jen for her strength and grit on the wing.

Sevenoaks 8-10 Barnes Men’s 1st XV - words by Rhino
On a muddy poor pitch, much the subject of criticism over the years, rugby came a poor second to the conditions, Barnes clinging on in the end to a halftime 8-10 lead, which neither side could add to.

The Sevenoaks reporter described the game like this: “Sevenoaks and Barnes enjoyed an arm wrestle at Knole Paddock, edged by the visitors on a claggy pitch”.

Claggy does reflect the swamp-like quality of the pitch!

The words of three Barnes eyewitnesses tell the true story - first Jack Heald, Barnes Director of Rugby: “You can’t play rugby on a pitch like that”.

Barnes legend Martin Conway added: “it was boring, we didn’t play to our full potential, Oaks did a good job of stifling us 5 or 6 times in their 22, but we couldn’t convert. Pitch was a quagmire”.

Super Snapper Jerry Halse had the final word: “It was a real slug fest, but we probably kicked too much, and we should have scored when we were camped on their line in the second half when they were down to 14 men. On a positive note, at least I wasn’t at Twickenham watching England!”.

For the rugby purists, Oaks scored first, Will Nicholson reduced the lead to 5-3 then Dan Robertshaw when over for a score, Nicholson adding the extras. With the home teaming slotting a penalty, the half time score was 8-10 to Barnes and nothing else troubled the scorers in the second half, although Oaks did have a penalty at the death which, for them, fell agonisingly close. Full time, Barnes edged it 8-10 – not one for the record books this one but we will take it.

Barnes Outriders 36-26 Worthing 2nd XV - words by DOR Jack Heald
In tough weather conditions, Barnes Outriders secured a hard-earned 36-26 victory over Worthing 2nd XV, showing real grit and composure throughout.

Captained by Malcolm Nimmo, the side laid the platform with physical defence and smart territorial play. Patience in the 22 paid off, with Ian Leonard crossing twice after sustained pressure.

Further tries from Daniel Hiam, Malcolm Nimmo, Charlie Drew and Ethan Hurst capped a strong all-round team performance.

A resilient win that reflects the depth and character within the Outriders squad.