I am pleased to report a return to winning ways for Barnes RFC last weekend, with our Men’s 1st XV winning comfortably away to Rochford 7- 46 and our Colts also winning well 45-25 at home to Old Emanuel Colts. You can read the match reports below

Also in action were our Under 11's, Under 12’s, Under 13’s, Under 14’s and Under 16’s, and reports from each of their games are below too. It was particularly brilliant to be hosting a group of parents and kids from Laon last weekend at Barnes RFC, Laon are the club in France we have toured to many times over the last decade, so it was great to have them on our turf for a change.

This weekend is a rest weekend for our Men (with the next Men’s 1st XV game being at Barn Elms on 26th March against Dings Crusaders.

The Barnow rugby this weekend is therefore focussed on our Women, with both XV’s playing on Sunday. The 1st XV is away at Chesham, whilst the 2nd XV is at home against Staines Women, kick off times are below. Please do get down and watch if you can and support our Women, they love it!

Rochford Hundred 7 - 46 Barnes Men’s 1st XV

On a bright sunny day, the conditions were perfect for an expansive game of running rugby, and Barnes relished the opportunity to put a poor run of form behind them, against a Rochford side that have continually improved throughout this their first season. I said in my write up last week that this could so easily been a banana skin fixture for us, and certainly in the first half the Essex side held their own.

We tentatively made good progress in the first 30 minutes, with Jasper Cameron going over inside the first ten minutes and Ash Thomas crossing on the half hour. Unusually for Rob Kirby, both conversions were missed so we led 0-10 with ten minutes of the half left. No sooner had we scored our second try than the home team scored a converted try themselves to peg back the lead to 7-10. A penalty from Kirby made the score at half-time 7-13.

A different Barnes team took the pitch in the second half. We scored a hatful of tries (7 in all) and were in total control throughout the half, tries from Matthew Branfield, Alex March, Jordan Souter and the ever-reliable Pete Weightman were added to by Rob Kirby who added an additional try, and converted four of the five second half tries.

A good all-round performance by the green and gold and a very welcome return to winning ways for the lads. This week sees a well needed rest for the boys with our next game being on 26th March at home against Dings Crusaders.

Barnes Colts 42 - 25 Old Emanuel Colts
This Sunday saw the Colts play in the Semi-Final of the Chairman’s Twickenham Cup against Old Emanuel Colts.

Unlike previous matches, when we had a surplus of players, our squad was severely depleted down to just 17 players (all due to quite a few long and short term injuries).

Nevertheless, the lads dug deep and, from the kick-off, showed the same steel and gritty determination they have consistently displayed throughout the season so far.

In the first half both teams definitely rattled each other’s cages on a constant basis but from completely different angles. OE's game plan is centered around their big pack, which routinely destroyed us in the scrum and the maul, and generally caused havoc across our defensive line. But Barnes Colts took over, and made considerable ground when we got the ball and our speed of play, more disciplined movement, coupled with much better handling, moved the ball into the wider open spaces where their pack couldn’t operate.

These two contrasting styles of play resulted in it being honours even at half time - 2 tries and 1 conversion each.

The second half started as the first had finished, with OE's pack keeping us parked in our 22 for what felt like an eternity! Barnow Colts looked panicked during this time, with a number of Barnow players trying to dig us out of the defensive nightmare by themselves. But, after 10mins of constant bombardment, we got a breakthrough and travelled swiftly down the pitch, and within 3 phases of play our No8 (Hal) scored under their posts.

The small gap we had created in the score line did the trick, and confidence across the team returned with the lads coming back together and playing once again as one unit.

Although the match felt scrappy as tiredness kicked in, the Barnow teamwork, together with the obvious lack of fitness in the OE pack, caused more and more space to open up in front of us.

In the final quarter of the match, we took advantage, and found those gaps quickly, and effectively, and we added a further two tries within the last 5 minutes.

The final score was Barnes 45-24 Old Emanuel with 7 tries from: Ollie C (2), Hal (2), Calum (2) and Daf and 4 of those being converted by Daf (3) and Hal (1).

We go on now to the Final of the Chairman’s Twickenham Cup against Weybridge Vandals.

The Final will be played at Farnham Rugby Club on Sunday 27th March with the KO at 1230hrs. Hope you can all make it!!

Under 11’s entertain their counterparts from Laon
On Saturday a group of Under 11’s to Colts coaches and parents entertained 18 visitors from Laon rugby club in France, which is the traditional touring destination for our Under 11’s as they graduate from Minis to Junior rugby.

Many of our young players, and their parents, have enjoyed the Laon hospitality over the last nine years, and this year they are looking forward to welcoming 180 Barnes tourists, including players from the Under 11’s, Under 12’s and Under 13’s squads. This will be our first visit back to Laon since 2019. They were over for the Friday evening international in Cardiff and joined us for Zoe’s fine English cuisine of steak pies over lunch, and to watch the Saturday matches in the Barnes clubhouse. It was great to reinforce our close relationship, and they proved a lively, great fun group for the day, with the clubhouse latterly buzzing to the gallic playlists of these seasoned rugby tourists!

Under 12’s - on the pitch for the England vs Ireland Legends match
The Under 12’s had a busy and successful weekend, starting with 20 boys plus parents going to the England vs Ireland Legends, which featured former international players from both teams playing in a charity rugby match at the Twickenham Stoop on Friday evening. Our boys, all in their Barnes kit, formed a welcoming guard of honour for the teams, and then were able to play a 10-minute touch rugby match on the pitch at half time, in front of several hundred spectators, and famous former players. Then on Saturday several joined in the festivities to host the visitors from Laon rugby club.

On this Sunday, three Under 12 teams played waterfall cup matches. The “Red” team produced their best cup performance so far, winning six tries to nil against London Irish A Team.

Especially notable this week were Hamish at 9, and Sean at 10, both calling the plays, Jasper jackalling to win turnovers, and centres Anatole and Thomas A showing good physicality in a tight second half to keep the Irish at bay from any come-back. This team now has a chance to make the overall “top” final of the Under 12’s competition; qualification may come down to points difference in the final round of pool matches next week, when Barnes play Richmond.

Our B, “Green”, team were away against Old Wimbledon Warriors’ A team, which looked like a tough match, but enjoyed an exciting 7-tries-all draw. From 3 tries each, to 5-5, we then slipped to 7-5 against, but Barnes lifted themselves and fought back to 7-7 and almost won the match at the end. A great team performance, with Ruben and Nico both scoring twice and Owen man-of-the match for driving the team forward and tackling to the end, but everyone really contributing. Meanwhile, the Under 12’s Gold team travelled to Old Reigatians and ran out 9-3 winners with a great performance across the team, showing solid tackling, strong carries and great running from deep. Their controlled aggression, and good playing spirit, were complemented by the opposition coach. Everyone stood up, but Luke E had a particularly good game, once carrying four opposition players across the try line.

Lots of smiles and muddy players at the end to conclude a busy weekend!

There are three more cup matches next Sunday, against Richmond, Sutton & Epsom and Battersea.

[b]Barnes RFC Under 13's rock in the 4th round of the Waterfall Cup Round

Barnes Under 13 A's vs Farnham
Our A Team's focus was to overcome a Farnham team that had also won all its Waterfall Cup matches to date, it an was outstanding and close encounter, that ended with Barnes winning 4-3! The cornerstones for this victory team performance were:
1. A spirit of togetherness (as a whole team but also in those key 'teams of 3' when attacking and defending in pods);
2. Discipline to play our game and not let refereeing decisions or other distractions cloud our task focus;
3. Courage to believe in our ability to go for the win (even after going 2 tries down early in the first half) by trusting our hands, in strong winds, to get the ball wide where we created try scoring opportunities;
4. Defending against their strong runners (with their coaches saying to us in the clubhouse afterwards that those players had not been repelled like that yet in the Waterfall Cup as they were used to regularly running through defences!).
Each and every single A Team player was Man of the Match! Take a bow A Team! A memorable day... and one we can even build on for our Round 5 match vs. Battersea Ironsides, noting that we currently sit top of our table going into this last round before the Waterfall Cup Finals Day in April!

Under 14’s bounce back against Old Ruts
Our development continued at Old Ruts after a bruising heavy home defeat last weekend to Guildford.

23 players travelled to South Wimbledon, where we met a stubborn direct route one rugby team. No space, no pace just truck it up the middle stuff, good for tackle technique, and those wanting to ruck, in your face rugby!

Barnes couldn’t get through, no quick ball, no time to kick just penalties all around, although we did manage to maul over and convert just before HT. We changed our 9 & 10 at the break, and managed to get the ball wide, we became a threat and scored on our third attack into the Old Ruts red zone - 0-12 to Barnes. Old Ruts came back at us, and put us under too much pressure, and went over for their first try, but the conversion was missed. Then we conceded 6 penalties in 5 minutes but managed to keep them out for a well worked clearance with two chasers and ran in the final try of the game with prop Harvey Rea converting.

The final score was Old Ruts 5 - 17 Barnes. That result earnt us a semi-final plate game against Weybridge Vandals in two weeks’ time ?

Tough day at the office for the Under 16’s against London Welsh

Two thirds of the Under 16’s squad were unavailable for selection last weekend due to illness, injury or ‘on loan’ to schools 7’s teams. So, we had a tough trip to London Welsh, playing on a 1st team pitch that has been graced by many stars of yesteryear. We weren’t up to the billing and had a tough day as a result.

We have two more matches to go as a squad, so we’re hoping to regroup, and reassert ourselves against Dorking at home then away to Jersey.