A very inexperienced, mixed ability, Barnes side took on a Cobham B side in windy and testing conditions underfoot at Barn Elms. A thorough warm-up from Barnes caught the visitors asleep in the early moments. Good attacking pressure from the start gave Archie Bell the early opportunity to drive over the line from five metres out to score after only six minutes. Cobham rallied with good attritional play, which went back and forth throughout the first half. The ball did not go out of play either, solid rucking and improved tackling keep our possession, we could not convert and missed three scoring opportunities. The second half was much the same as the first, with Cobham much better from the off. Barnes has to make three changes due to injuries, on top of the three already made because of the half game rule, which meant we lost our shape, and took time to adjust. Cobham had the structure, and managed to chip and chase. With the wind in their favour, they scored in the 34th minute. Barnes held on for a well-earned draw and move on to Guildfordians in the third round. 21 players featured for Barnes.

It was a fantastic Sunday for all of our Junior Teams, and I want to express my thanks to all of the many Barnes volunteers coaches, the professional series of Jack Heald and Cameron Ruddock, the leadership of Juniors Chairman, Jason Betteley, and of course all of the players and their mums and dads, siblings and grans and grandads who all regularly turn up and support their kids.

The future of our club is bright, the future is green and gold with these youngsters wearing it proudly, and them playing in the original spirit which we cherish so much at Barnes RFC.

Thank you one and all!

U13s v Esher, 1st Round of the U13 Waterfall Cup by Charles Roberts

Final score Barnes U13s 2-6 Esher. The U13’s knew they were in for a tough match when they lined up to face a physically massive Esher side, but the Barnes boys were firing from the off and made Esher work hard till the last second of the game. While many of Esher’s tries were arguably defendable, the effort, tenacity and resilience from the Barnes team eventually paid a dividend with two multi-phase team tries late in the 2nd half. We go on bloodied but unbowed.

U14s v Richmond As and Bs, 1st Round of the U14 Waterfall Cup by Chris Williams:

Overall it was a triumph to get 37 Under 14 players out to compete in the Surrey Waterfall Cup this Sunday.
We lost to Richmond A (10-28) but beat Richmond B (20-15) – a decent result in a tough local derby.

The U14As started the match against a fierce wind. We went down a couple of tries early but managed to rally with some excellent ‘punch/jab’ combinations up the middle.
Overall Richmond won with a couple of big lads, and some better organisation due to more match practice. Our discipline, and fair play, were exemplary, and duly noted by Richmond coaches. We stayed in the Richmond clubhouse for a good hour afterwards in great spirits. Captain, Theo, was a standout player, accompanied by the early signs of a prolific back row with Anas and Josh.

The U14 Bs got their 2020 off to a terrific start with a win over Richmond. Captained by Daniel K, the side looked strong from the start, with a thundering ruck that put Richmond on the back foot for the whole of the first half. We were up 2-0 after 10 mins with a forwards’ maul and try, followed up by a cracking series of Jabs (Julian, Will K, Calum) and a run from the backs, leading to a try from Cameron. Richmond started to get back in the game with a long kick and chase try, which caused some confusion for our backs, but from the restart, Cameron had another terrific run from deep for his second score. The lads tired in the second half, letting Richmond crawl back to one behind, but with some amazing tackles (Julian, Jack D, Freddie & Fintan), teamwork and commitment, we held them off until the final whistle.

U15s v Old Reigatians, Shield Final of the U15 Waterfall Cup by Michael Kennedy:

The U15's played Old Reigatians in the final of the Surrey Shield. Although OR's were seeded higher, it was Barnes who made the stronger start, and had OR on the rack for the first 10 minutes, and after some slick handling and brute force, duly scored the first try.
Barnes eased off a bit, allowing OR's back into the game, and although Barnes maintained their slender lead, they couldn’t break free and with 10 mins to go, found themselves behind as OR's mauled their way over the try line.

The Barnes boys didn’t panic, and duly fought back to score the decisive try and win the match 24-22! It was a closely contested game, but the boys showed they are a strong side when playing with real intensity. Special mention goes to Ewan Watt who played the game before heading directly to Heathrow, as he moves back to Australia. The U15's have now won the first Trophy of the season – The Surrey U15 Shield!!

Colts v Cranleigh, 3rd Round of the Waterfall Cup by Jason Betteley:
Having won our first two pool matches of the Colts Waterfall Cup, we now faced Cranleigh Colts – a force to be reckoned with. We kicked-off, and immediately put them under a huge amount of physical and territorial pressure. Our forwards were brutal, and our backs accurate. We scored in the first five minutes, starting with a series of quick rucks and ending with a set of fast passes across the backline ending with a darting try from our left-winger.

That set the tone for a flurry of six tries from Barnes Colts, with five missed conversions – despite our fly half (Jack Seymour) having fast feet, wriggling hips and a destructive side-step, he just simply couldn’t kick a conversion!! Three or four training sessions with Tommy Bell, Basil Strang, Josh Hammett and Josh Davies are needed and soon!!

Although the game finished Barnes 39-0 Cranleigh, it was a fierce and tough match. Cranleigh are a strong team, with a massive spirit.

Next Sunday (19th Jan) we play in the Waterfall Cup Finals Day against a combined team from Guildford/Haslemere for the Surrey Maple Cup. Fingers crossed!!

Here’s a link to an edited video of our match: https://youtu.be/NDV5HAf8QDM