Last weekend Barnes had 5 sides playing, represented by over 100 men and women.
It was a curates eggs, where both our Men’s and Women’s 2nd XVs won handsomely against Blackheath 2nd XV (35-19) and Ealing Women’s 2nd XV (34-12) respectively, whilst both our respective 1st XVs went down to strong oppositions, the Men lost 31-26 in the last dying moments away to Oundle, whilst our Women faced a tough side in Eton Manor and came off second best 41-10. The Occies slipped up to in a try scoring beerfest against Dorking 3rd XV, 39-46.

Reports for both Women's games are below

The highlight of the weekend was the visit on Saturday of England Rugby World Cup winners, Marlie Packer and Rosie Galligan, who enthralled our young girls and women on the pitch at training and in a Q and A in the clubhouse, an absolute treat and a memory they will never forget. There are some words below from Boris Pomroy on last week's visit from Women's Rugby's royalty!

This weekend, our Men’s and Women’s 1st XVs are back in action, and ready to make amends for last weekend.

The Men’s first XV take on Oxford Harlequins at Barn Elms on Saturday, whilst the Women’s 1st XV face Thamesians at home on Sunday. Quins are in their second season in National League 2 East, last year we did win 29-47 at their place, and 47-22 at Barnes, but the games were much closer than the score suggests, they did tire in the last 20 minutes of each game but boy did they run us much closer than you might think. This season they have lost four games and won one, but we would be very wrong to underestimate the Oxford side. In addition, I know our lads are bruised after last week’s loss at Oundle and they will be very keen to put that one to bed by proving a point this weekend - so watch out for the backlash!

The full list of games this weekend is below.

For the first time in many a year all the five weekend fixtures are at home, so you have no excuse, please do get down and support one of the Barnes teams, they absolutely love your support and thrive on it.

Onwards and Upwards Barnow!

For Rugby! For Friendship! For Life!

Michael “Rhino” Whitfield - President Barnes Rugby Club

Saturday 11th October Fixtures
• Barnes Men’s1st XV vs Oxford Harlequins - 3pm KO
• Barnes Men’s 2nd XV vs Chinnor 2nd XV - 2pm KO
• Barnes Outriders vs Battersea Ironsides - 2pm KO
• Barnes Occies vs Lightwater - 3pm KO
Sunday 12th October Fixture
• Barnes Women’s 1st XV vs Thamesians Women’s 1st XV - 2.30pm KO

England Roses Legends Marlie Packer and Rosie Galligan light up Barnes RFC – words by Juniors Chairman Boris Pomroy
On Saturday, we celebrated girls’ and women’s rugby at Barnes with a special visit from England World Cup winners Marlie Packer and Rosie Galligan.

More than 80 players from our minis, juniors, and senior women’s teams joined in for a morning of training, games, and plenty of laughter with Marlie and Rosie, who brought the energy, even after a busy week celebrating the World Cup win.

After training, we headed inside to refuel and hear from Marlie and Rosie in a lively 40-minute Q&A. Questions ranged from how to be your best (“love what you do, think about what you eat, and give it everything”) to whether they’re friends with their opponents (yes!)

We finished by singing Happy Birthday to Marlie and giving both players Barnes shirts signed by our girls as a small thank you for a visit we’ll never forget.

A huge thank you to Marlie and Rosie for their time and kindness, to the RFU for making it happen, and to everyone in our women’s section for coming together to coach and support. It was a day full of pride, joy, and memories we’ll always treasure.

Eton Manor Ladies 1st XV 42 - 10 Barnes Women’s 1st XV - words by Co-Captain Kitty Robinson

On Sunday, Barnes Women 1XV travelled to the opposite corner of London to play Eton Manor. We knew that they would be a tough opposition having grown and developed as a team impressively over the last few seasons.

There was a physical battle upfront as Eton Manor had a big pack, but we held our own, particularly in the scrums. There were big carries from Joss and Lou which helped Barnes to gain ground. Eton Manor had strong, fast ball carriers, particularly in the centres who managed to poke holes in the Barnes defence and run in 3 tries in the first half.

Barnes stayed in the fight playing well within our structure and shipping the ball out wide where Liv Ponsford used her speed to run in a try before half time.

Barnes regrouped at half time and went back out with revived confidence. Eton Manor struggled with discipline receiving a yellow card, Barnes took advantage of this with impressive touch finding kicks from Izzy making the most of the penalties.

Despite strong picks from the forwards there were ultimately too many mistakes which meant that Barnes struggled to convert these into points. Despite being down a player, Eton Manor's impressive backline continued to run in 3 more tries.

Barnes continued our valiant attacking effort with Ruth and Izzy reading the game really well at 10 and 12, eventually we were rewarded with a try by Ruth’s quick reactions.

The final score was 41-10.

A tough loss but some brilliant moments that we will continue to build upon as we look ahead to the next game.

Forward of the match was awarded to Joss for her relentless work rate and strong ball carrying. Back of the match was Izzy for her control and strong kicking. Coaches awarded their player of the match to Sasha for great tackling and support.

Barnes Women’s 2nd XV 34 -12 Ealing Women’s 2nd XV - words by Co-Captain Angie Chow

A rather windy weekend it might have been, but the strong wind didn’t blow away the high spirits of our Barnes 2nd XV players, arriving at the Ealing Trailfinders ground in beautiful sunshine.

Barnes started the game strongly, with Holly sprinting through Ealing’s defence to score.
Another Barnes try followed immediately scored by Livia and converted by Holly.

Barnes then sat back on their laurels after those two quick scores, and this time it was Ealing’s turn to seize on the opportunity, passing the ball quick to the wing, scoring and securing their conversion. In response to that, Barnes scored another brilliant try on the wing. Although being told multiple times by the coaches not to pass the ball during contact, Manako decided it was a good chance to do an offload and was brilliantly received and scored by Anna.

Into the second half, Barnes scored another try by Manako before Ealing seeing gaps in the defending line, scoring a try and securing the conversation. Towards the end of the match, Holly once again, scored two brilliant tries, assisted by Naomi who spotted the gap, and Holly casually running it through. The game wouldn’t have been the same without the forwards working tirelessly in the rucks and carries, with debutants such as Alex, Orla and Aisha making strong carries. Other debutants include, Haya, Izzy and Meg, who enjoyed playing the aggressive yet fun and rewarding sport with Barnes. The strong wind meant it was difficult for both teams to play at their best, but Barnes’s victory was also a testament of the determination to go against all odds and work together as a team. The game ended with Barnes winning 34 – 12, with players wearing the blue kit with pride, and seeing the yellow and blue ribbons on our hair, continue to flutter by the wind.