A good weekend was had last week for Barnes as both our Men’s and Women’s 1st XVs recorded excellent wins - the Men bounced back after a disappointing result the previous week against London Welsh by winning away in Guernsey, always a really tough place to go, and often nip and tuck between these two old rivals – this time Barnes came out on top 21-29, whilst the Women won their encounter in a close game at Barn Elms 12-5 against Bec Belles.

The Women’s 2nd XV smashed Teddington Ladies 22-67 in an extraordinary game when we had only 12 players and Teddington had a full compliment plus 7 subs - Roz scoring 6 tries.
The Occies combined with London Media to play, and beat Guildford 32-27, and a clean sweep of wins was thwarted just with the Outriders fielding 14 players against Horsham and just coming up short 38-31, a valiant effort.

The match reports from last week’s games are below.

We see the last game of 2025 this weekend, with the Men’s 1st XV are away to Henley, We were lucky to nick a draw at the death at our place earlier in the season 20-20 and Henley will be out to spoil the party in the rematch. Building on the excellent Guernsey result, the lads will be keen to finish the year with a good win before they heads off for their Christmas festivities.

Our first games of 2026 kick off on 3rd January at Richmond as our Under 23’s reform to play in their traditional triangular tournament, kicking off at 2pm, let’s all get down and support them!

On the 10th January, Barnes Men’s 1st XV resume their fierce rivalry against Dorking at Barn Elms that promises to be another cracker in our recent history of crackers against Dorking.
Have a brilliant Christmas, may it be peaceful, relaxing and full of family love and harmony!
For Rugby! For Friendship! For Life!

Michael “Rhino” Whitfield – President Barnes Rugby Club

Guernsey Raiders 21-29 Barnes Men’s 1st XV
After a poor performance the week before against London Welsh, Barnes Director Of Rugby Jack Heald, had called for the lads to respond and respond they did on their travels to Guernsey, when they turned over the Raiders 21-29, inflicting the home teams first defeat of the season at Footes Lane.,
However, the match nearly didn’t take place at all after two of the assigned match officials for to travel to the island due to a flight cancellation, Both the Guernsey’s Director of Rugby, Jordan Reynolds, and Jack Heald ended up acting as the two touch judges in a bizarre National Two East encounter, which saw the referee take the sole responsibility for officiating the game and then doing so for virtually the whole of the second half unable to run because of a calf injury! It is a testament to Guernsey and Jordan and Jack that the game went ahead at all so our sincere thanks goes to them all.

In its own way, that added to the entertainment, but it ended up being a disappointing afternoon for the Raiders as they came second in a hard-fought contest.

Well done the Barnes players for digging deep and bringing home the points, next week they travel away to Henley and will be looking to finish 2025 with another win to set them up well for the second half of the season, kicking off on 10th January at Barn Elms with a cracker of a prospect against Dorking.

Barnes Women’s 1st XV 12 - 5 Bec Belles - words by Co- Captain Kitty Robinson
For our last game of 2025, Barnes Women’s 1st XV hosted Bec Belles.

Barnes were playing with a lean squad of just 17 players, to allow enough players for the 2nd XV team fixture to also go ahead.

With two very physical sides, this shaped up to be a big match. There was a slightly frantic start with mistakes from both sides but eventually Barnes settled in, played our structure and soon co-Captain Jess Mclean-Wright was under the sticks from a quick penalty with Liv adding the extras.

Possession stayed with Barnes, pinning Bec Belles into their own half with strong attacking lines. Charlotte Bigland had some great runs down the left wing, very nearly breaking through.

The forwards continued to press with strong pick and go’s inching ever closer before the ball went out to the backs and unfortunately escaped Izzy’s hands just inches from the line.
The first half ended 7-0 but Barnes had definitely left a few tries out there.

Anticipation was high going into the second 40 and again both teams took a few minutes to settle. It was Barnes who struck first with a strong carry from Lou to pick and go in the corner to make the score 12-0.

Bec Belles were quick to counter with strong carries of their own, also picking and going over the line to make the score 12-5.

Taking big hits and with minimal substitutes, Barnes had to dig deep for the last 10 minutes. Showing great guts and determination we held Bec Belles off with the game ending 12-5.
The coaches awarded their player of the match to Jeanette for her monstrous tackles.
Forward of the match went to Kitty for her strong carries.

Back of the match was awarded to Holly, linking up really well in the centres and making great ground on her carries. She also saved us many times with her last line defence when at full back.

Teddington Women’s 2nd XV 22- 67 Barnes Ladies 2nd XV - words by Co-Captain Anji Chow
Twelve brave Barnes women arrived at Teddington RFC, knowing very well that the opposition had 7 subs, and that it wouldn't be an easy game. Barnes's opponents were a team of women who trained together regularly, whereas Barnes had quite numbers of players playing out of position, including the front row. Not ideal!

Teddington were keen to assert their dominance at their home ground, and soon scored the first try. Barnes didn't shy away either and were defending hard to Teddington's relentless attacks. Soon after, Barnes scored two tries through Meg Kelly on the wing, giving some relief to Barnes.

Teddington refused to have Barnes over taking them on the score board, and scored another try through their speedy fullback. The first half ended 15 - 17.

It could have been the high spirits of the Barnes players, or the Teddington players having had a bit too much fun with their Christmas social the night before, but Barnes dominated the second half of the game.

New players to the game, like Aisha and Roz, carried the ball so hard that it often took three players to stop them making ground. Roz was so dominating that she scored a total 6 tries, with Barnes winning 67-22 in the end, despite having significantly less players.

Special mention for the whole pack, who dominated every scrum despite having never trained together; and Molly who stepped up to play brilliantly at fly half and converting our tries after a quick 10 mini kicking clinic prior to the warm up. In addition, Abi and Meg Dunlop playing their in their first few rugby games but still played liked fearless seasoned players.

Lastly, as Co-Captains of the 2s, we would like to thank our coaches, Ben, Elliott and Andy for their endless passion and support for the team.

We wouldn't have won this game without Ben's coaching of the game play stuctures early on in the season, Elliott's positive and encouraging words on game days, and Andy's useful tips while in charge of side line duty.

Horsham 2nd XV 38 – 31 Barnes Outriders - words by Coach Tommy Burkett
Just two games left before Christmas and the Outriders were already dreaming of mulled wine, mince pies and what Dan Roberts had been billing since Thursday as the party bus to end all party buses. Preparations, however, were not without their challenges — a few lads clearly embraced the Christmas spirit a little too enthusiastically the night before and paid the price come kick-off.

Things got festive early when we started the match with 14 men, and despite generous offers from some eager young headhunters, Tommy politely declined any early Christmas cash this week.

Horsham struck first as Barnes took a while to shake off the tinsel and find their rhythm. That said, it didn’t take long for young club Man of the Month Dan Roberts to make his mark, sneaking around the back of a maul (with more than a hint of truck-and-trailer suspicion) before galloping 50 metres to the line like a reindeer late for Christmas.

What followed was a proper end-to-end festive scrap. Ryan Murrough crossed twice with two crucial scores, backed up by another cracking effort from Henry McAlister. With no bench and playing 14 v 14 on a pitch the size of Santa’s workshop, the lads then had to weather Horsham unleashing their so-called bomb squad. The Outriders dug deep, producing some outstanding try-saving tackles to keep the scoreboard respectable.
Special mention to Horsham’s number 11 — a tireless workhorse with a worrying resemblance to a mini Jonah Lomu — who was used early, often and at full throttle. For Barnes, Malcolm Nimmo, operating in unfamiliar territory at 12, was pulling the strings, bossing the backline and finishing off a superb solo try, all while keeping one eye on his “hammies”.

Sadly, it wasn’t to be a Christmas miracle. Relentless pressure in the dying moments saw Horsham finally break through, their numbers telling at the final hurdle.

Final score: Horsham 38 – Barnes 31

A valiant effort from a 14-man squad with no bench on a massive pitch. One more to go before Christmas.

Man of the Match: Malcolm Nimmo ??