With last weekend being a rest weekend for most of the club, the spotlight rightly focussed on the Women’s 1st XV, 3rd in their league, one place behind their opponents Wasps, who pipped us at the post in our first encounter before Christmas.

This time we were determined to exact revenge and so it turned out, as we ran out winners 22-17 after a thoroughly entertaining and enthralling contest, which saw both sides throw the kitchen sink at it. Ultimately a brilliant 20 minutes at the end of the first half set Barnes up for success, one try coming after 20 patient phases. In the second half the pace naturally dropped a level, and the game became scrappier as a result, at one point Barnes were down to 13 players after two yellow cards, but this bunch of legends were tenacious, dug deep, and doggedly hung on to secure sweet revenge.

In addition to the result, it was brilliant also for scrum half Anji Chow to get on the pitch for her 100th cap representing Barnes, an incredible achievement for her which she should be incredibly proud, as we are of her.

Proud as punch Women’s Chair Andy Pickering has penned a fulsome match report for your enjoyment below.

This Saturday sees three games for the club, the 1st XV travel to Havant, currently in 9th in the league to Barnes’s 4thn place. Havant have had a strange 2026 so far. In January they swept aside Esher, Westcombe Park and Canterbury, but in February they suffered a thumping at Bury, recorded a narrow win against London Welsh and last time out went down away at Guernsey 36-26, so truth be told we really don’t know which Havant we will face this weekend. They are definitely a tough nut to crack at home, and we will definitely not be taking the challenge lightly in any way - should be a cracking game!

The Men’s 2nd XV is at home to local rivals Esher, whilst the Outriders travel over the river to play Hammersmith and Fulham. On Sunday the Women’s 2nd XV is in action, travelling to play Belsize Park.

It promises to be a great weekend of rugby so onwards and upwards Barnow.

For Rugby! For Friendship! For Life!

Michael “Rhino” Whitfield - President Barnes Rugby Club

Details of the games this weekend:
Saturday 14th March Fixtures
• Havant Men’s 1st XV vs Barnes Men’s 1st XV - 2:30pm KO
• Barnes Men‘s 2nd XV vs Esher Men’s 2nd XV - 2:30pm KO
• Hammersmith & Fulham 2nd vs Barnes Outriders – 12 midday KO
Sunday 15th March Fixture
• Belsize Park - Barnes Women 2nd XV - KO 2pm

Barnes Women’s 1st XV 22- 17 Wasps Women’s 1st XV - words by Women’s Chairperson Andy Pickering
Barnes Women produced one of their best performances of the season to narrowly see off local rivals Wasps in a tense stop start game.

The first 15 minutes saw both sides exchange midfield fire with neither side able to make the metres to establish any kind of dominance. On 15 minutes Barnes were awarded a penalty 22 metres out and with the league’s top kicker in the team sensibly chose to bank the 3 points.

The pattern continued with big midfield hits being punctured by penalty calls for high tackles.

Whilst both sides attempted to come to terms with the referee’s interpretation of high tackles Wasps made a midfield break from the halfway line and finished off with a well taken try under the post leaving Barnes down 3-7.

Barnes came straight back and soon found themselves in range for their improving pick and go game and it was no surprise to see Liv B dive over from short range. Liv P inevitably added the conversion giving Barnes a 10-7 lead. It was at this point that the referee’s patience gave way to issue his first yellow card of the day that saw Wasps down to 14 players.

Barnes went straight back up the field with a multi phase attack that showed all the elements of the Barnes game. Space was ultimately made out wide for Sasha to sprint 20m to the line where she was tackled but smartly got back to her feet to dive over. A missed conversion left the half time score 22-7 to Barnes.

The coaching team’s half time message was to keep up the committed and connected defence and with ball I hand to keep it simple. Overarching this was the need to keep on the right side of the referee!!

The 2nd half was a half of frustration with an increasing high tackle and scrummaging penalty count resulting in Barnes receiving 3 yellow cards 2 of which meant the team were down to 13 for 8 minutes.

Despite these disciplinary headwinds the defence upped a gear and defended magnificently for long periods. Despite this awesome defensive effort Wasps did score 2 unconverted tries out wide to leave the last 10 minutes with Barnes just 5 points ahead. During that last 10 minutes Barnes gained territory and cleverly kept the game in Wasps’s half either keeping the ball or defending closer to the Wasps try line than Barnes’
The coaching team made numerous changes during the 2nd half to give all players some game time, but everyone stood up to be counted. Always a risk but the squad is strong enough to cope.

Choosing the players of the match was going to be a tough one for the coaches but no 8 Fiona snapped up forward of the match with Izzy’s physical performance at 10 securing the back of the match award. The coaches overall player of the match went to Liv B playing out of position at hooker but performing like her normal back row position.

With 3 away games to go Barnes are well placed to finish 2nd to the runaway league leaders.