On Saturday our Men took on Worthing, where a sloppy first 40 minutes saw far too many Barnes penalties conceded and the home side went into halftime 17-26 down with their tails between their legs.

What ever words were delivered at the break by the coaching team, they worked!

Barnes had an outstanding second half, scoring 38 unanswered points and 6 tries, winning 55-26 in the end. You can read Martin Conway's report below.

Next week we have our annual pilgrimage to Guernsey, who are 1 point and 1 place above us in 2nd place in National League 2 East. Playing at Footes Lane is never easy, it will be even tougher next weekend, not only because Guernsey are clearly a tougher outfit this season, but also because they lot in a humdinger against league leaders Tonbridge Juddians yesterday, 38-37, with a conversion from out wide in the last kick of the game. We will need to be on our mettle that is for sure and it is set to be another epic between the Islanders and the Londoners!

On Sunday our Women’s 1st XV had their second outing of the season, a tough clash against Hove, in which they performed with much aplomb and skill to emerge victorious against 34-29, notching up their first win of the season.

On Saturday, the Men’s 2nd XV had a really tough away fixture against Chinnor, a club flying high in the Championship. At half time the two league gap looked more than apparent with the home team leading 33-0. But the Barnow Boys 2nd half performance warmed the cockles of your heart, with Chinnor only adding one unconverted try and Barnes adding a 7 pointer, an extraordinary 2nd half performance to stem the flow and leave the pitch with our heads held high, this 2nd XV is forging into a good side, a few more games will see that, mark my words! You can read Dom Palacio’s report of the game below.

In addition to the Men’s 1st XV’s eagerly awaited away trip to Guernsey, this weekend the Men’s 2nd XV are at home to Bishop Stortford, another strong opposition, there are no easy games in their league!

The Occies are also at home, they take on Old Ruts. Boths the 2’s and the Occies kick off at 3pm at Barn Elms on Saturday.

Both games kick off at 3pm and I know the lads from both teams would love your support.

On Sunday, our Under 16’s are at home to Esher with an 11am kick off, and a few hours later our Women’s 2nd XV take on Ampthill at Barn Elms with a 2:30pm kick off.

Barnes Men’s 1st XV 55 - 26 Worthing Raiders - words by Martin Conway
It was not all plain sailing for Barnes, despite their nine try haul to secure a healthy 55-26 win over the south coast club.

With only ninety seconds on the clock, Barnes lock Josef Murphy dotted down with fly-half Jack Martin adding the extras.

After a scorching solo run by winger, and player of the match, Jacques Birch, he off loaded to allow hooker Josh Archer to score. Barnes appeared to take control of the match with the score at 12-0 after nine minutes. From some scrappy Barnes play, Worthing centre Bruno Perry scored under the posts to make it 12-7.

Birch added try number three to the Barnes tally after being given space to slip through the Worthing defence. But Worthing gained the ascendency on the half hour with an up the middle try by hooker Harrison Dakin, Charles Spencer again adding the extras and then scored three minutes later in the corner.

Shortly before half time Worthing were awarded a penalty try to take then into the break with a score line of 17-26. An error-strewn, and penalty-laden first half from the home team!

The half time oranges must have had something extra in them to spurn Barnes into life.
The home team scored six tries and 38 points in the space of 30 minutes.

Tries from fullback Harvey Graham, winger Paul Webb, lock Simon Linsell, replacement front rower George Dean and a second from Jacques Birch took the match away from Worthing.

Despite the visitors bench bringing some added impetus, especially from Elliott Powell they didn’t have any answer to the Barnes scoring machine.

Barnes Women’s 1st XV 34-29 Hove Women’s 1st XV - words by Sasha Portier
Barnes 1st XV had their first run out at home this weekend vs Hove. Having played Hove last year in the championship, we had high hopes that this would be our first win of the season!
Barnes started off incredibly strong, with a try in the opening minutes of the game that put us on the front foot and in positive spirits for the rest of the match. It turned into a hugely physical contest between both teams, and all players put their bodies on the line for the duration of the game.

With the half time score being 17-12, we knew there was still work to do. Many hard carries from the forwards left space for the backs to have some incredible handling skills to dot down in the corner - the definition of a team try!

Hove were relentless, but Barnes dealt brilliantly and upfront with everything thrown at us, right to the very end - final score 34-29.

Forward of the match went to Cam Barlow, who was absolutely everywhere - willing to carry every ball and support anyone else who had ball in hand, working hard for the full 80 minutes she played.

Back of the match went to Zoe 'Beans' Green, who ran strong hard lines every time she recieved the ball and was the most vocal I've ever heard her on the pitch !

Player of the match went to Kitty Robinson who held her own in the front row of the scrum - no mean feet when there was approximately 50 of them in the second half - and for getting the ball over the whitewash, our forward representative of tries !
Next week sees a rest for the 1st XV, but the 2s travel away to Ampthill in Bedfordshire to get their journey up and running in the league!

Chinnor Men’s 2nd XV 38-7 Barnes Men’s 2nd XV - words by Dom Palacio

Round 3 of the Raging Bull Merit league, saw Barnes Raiders (men’s 2nd XV), travel to rural Oxfordshire to play Chinnor RFC, who were promoted last season into the Championship.
A healthy 23 man squad made the trip up the M40 and, having convincingly beaten Richmond Saxons (their 3rd XV) the week before, confidence was high.

What was soon apparent was the Chinnor Falcons (their 2nd XV), looked very different to the team the Raiders played last season when they were in National league one.

The Raiders started strongly, dominating possession for the first few minutes. Falcons won the toss and with a strong wind blowing, they chose to take advantage of this, Raiders would have to deal with an accurate kicking game from the Falcons for the first half, which proved to be challenge with the wind behind them!

Falcons went on to score 5 of their 6 tries in the first half. The Raiders went over for what seemed to be a nailed on try at 20 mins, at this point the Falcons had already scored 3 times. The referee decided (controversially) that the ball had been held up by the Falcons, no points for our team. In hindsight, had the try been awarded, momentum & confidence would have benefited the Raiders & possibly changed the outcome of the 5 tries scored by the home team in the first half - alas, it wasn’t meant to be!
Half time - Falcons 33. Raiders Nil

A change of front row at halftime and the introduction of the remainder of out strong bench were subbed on with the first 10 minutes of the half. This saw the Raiders rally and with tenacious defending, they turned the ball over in the Falcons 22, resulting in Olly Walker scoring, which was converted Kyle Beatie.

Falcons scored once more, a few minutes later, which would be the last points for both teams for the afternoon.

A game of two halves, with the strong wind benefiting both teams when it was behind them. Plenty of positives for the Raiders and some defensive “work ons” going forward.
Much fun was had on the Pork Pie & Wine themed bus trip home!

Full time score - Chinnor Falcons 38. Barnes Raiders 7