Wow, what a weekend last week, great victories for both our Men’s 1st XV, away to Hinckley 23-43, and a similarly great win for our Women’s 2nd XV, away to Farnham Ladies 20-43, and of course we saw the return of the marauding hordes of Minis and Juniors, hundreds and hundreds of them, taking over Barnes village on Saturday, and Sunday, as they returned to rugby, whooping and a-hollering as they went.

An utterly brilliant first weekend, after the dark days of the last year and a half, and one that not only warms the cockles of our green and gold hearts, but also reminds us all about how much we missed the game we love, and the camaraderie and banter of our mates.

Thank you to all of the Barnes massif that made last weekend happen, you know who you are, whether you are a coach, a player, a supporter, a doer, a parent, involved in the adult or minis and junior sections, you are the unsung heroes of Barnes RFC, and it never ceases to amaze me how much you do just for the love of the club, and the game.

This weekend we are obviously back in full swing again. The 1st XV are at home, where they entertain old rivals Redruth, whilst the 2nd XV have their first outing of the season against Richmond Vikings at Barn Elms, whom Spence says the 2’s have never beaten before…well there is always a first time I guess! And our Women’s 1st XV also have their first game too, also against Richmond 2nd XV, away at the Athletic Ground. I think all games are a 3pm kick off, but do check before you rock up.

To whet your appetites for the Men’s 1st XV game, Redruth are in 3rd and we are in 4th in National League 2 after the first round of games ?. Barnes have a good track record against the Reds and, in the 2019-20 season, we lost at home narrowly 17-26, but won away 10-12, which as anyone who has played there will tell you is no mean feat, especially if you get stuck in hellfire corner with 15 minutes to go, you barely get out with your life, let alone with a win!

So oodles to look forward, and with even more Minis and Juniors returning to the club too, it promises to be one humdinger of a weekend.

You can read below more details of last weekend’s games, and if you can come to Barnes to support the Men’s teams, or Richmond to support our Women, you will be incredibly welcome and much appreciated by all of the players.

And finally, the pre-Redruth game luncheon, is sponsored by BML Plant Hire, the latest brainchild of the enigma with a pipe that is Colum Mannix. Colum joined the club with his son playing in the Minis, and has migrated through all of the age groups with him over the last ten years, before being annexed by the adult club. He is a man who likes the craic, the beer and the game, and is a true aficionado of the game to boot! We love having him around, and it is most generous of him to sponsor the first home game of this season, and the match.

Have a fantastic week ahead everyone, enjoy your rugby and enjoy the weekend of Barnes Rugby, played of course in the original spirit that we embrace at Barnes RFC.

Onwards and Upwards Barnow! #One Club!

Michael “Rhino” Whitfield - Chairman Barnes RFC

Men’s Rugby - Hinckley 1st XV 23 Barnes 1st XV 43
After a traffic-full journey to Leicestershire, kick off was hastily rearranged for 3:15pm to accommodate our late arrival. And what an arrival it was!
Many thanks to Mike McDermott for making the trek, and for updating us all on the scores during the game, and for sending me all of the info for the match report below.
A crowd of 250 plus pitched up for lunch, to celebrate the life of club stalwart Paul Green, former Club Captain and President, who lost his battle with prostate cancer. A big thankyou to Hinckley for their warm welcome and hospitality.
The game started with both attacks finding their feet, and respective defence’s holding sway. Although Hinckley had the lion’s share of the possession in the first 20 minutes, they did not trouble Barnes’s stout defence. Indeed, it was Barnes’s defence that caused a Hinckley handling error, from which Jordan Souter collected the ball, to run in from 30 metres to score our first try. Hinckley came straight back, notching up their first points to reduce the deficit to 3 -7 after a scrum penalty. Again. Barnes forwards worked hard at the break down, and earned a penalty at the breakdown, which Hammett duly kicked to extend the lead to 3 -10. Hinckley worked the ball into the corner, and a strong rolling maul saw them over the line. With the conversion, the score was level at 10 apiece.
On the narrow pitch, there wasn’t much space to attack, but the Barnes defence again created a turnover that led to another penalty, Barnes taking the lead again 10-13. In the last ten minutes of the half, we started to gain a bit more territory and, with three minutes to go to half time, a Hinckley pass went to ground, Josh Davies pounced on it, then used footballing skills that George Best would have been proud of, to dribble the ball over the line and score. Hammett missed the conversion and Barnes led 10-18. With the oranges fast approaching, Barnes executed their best move of the half, Nick Lising-White tip-toing down the touch line to score again.

At the break The Green Army led 10-23, exceeding the expectations of many, bar the coaches and players of course!

Early in the 2nd half, Josh Hammett found his radar again, and slotted a penalty to take Barnes to a 10-26 lead. Hinckley did not lie down though, and the ball went through a number of phases before the home team scored a good try to close the gap to 17-26. Hinckley then went through a period of dominating possession, but Barnes were resolute in defence, our backrow was prominent in the tackle, and strong carries from Captain Ryan Seabright, and pocket battleship Pete Weightman, wrested the initiative back to Barnow.
From a missed penalty, we charged down the clearance, and after a number of phases, Nick Lising-White went over in the corner for second try of the game, and the bonus point for The Green Army. With Hammett converting from the touch-line, the score was now 17-31. With Barnes completely controlling the match now, ten minutes later Conor Harbison galloped up the middle of the pitch, a whirling dervish that no one wanted to tackle, before scoring under the posts. Barnes now had a match-winning score of 17-40, although a generous penalty try at the end of the match did give Hinckley another try, With a further penalty to Barnes before the whistle, the final score was 23-43, with flanker, and newcomer Jasper Cameron, voted player of the match by the Barnes Coaching team.

Barnes Juniors

The Juniors had a sun-drenched start to the Season at Barn Elms on Sunday, easing back into contact. We were about 70% capacity, with some stragglers yet to return from holidays. It was great to welcome Jerry, Peter and the new U12s.

We were blessed with the contribution of three professional coaches, and Chris Swash down from the 1st XV helping the U16s and Colts this week. Zoe and her team put on hot dogs for the players, and quenched the thirst of coaches and parents. It was a smooth start to what we hope to be an action-packed season.

Barnes Minis

Saturday saw our amazing Mini’s section return to action. After 18 months of stopping and starting, a wall of noise once again descended over BEST as hundreds of children ran, dodged, tackled and, above all, had huge amounts of fun. It was particularly great to see so many new players joining the ranks, particularly in our U5/6’s - where we had almost 70 children taking part! A huge thank you to all the parent coaches, who continue to give up their time and ensure the next generation of players develop in the original spirt of rugby.

Farnham Ladies 20 Barnes Women’s 2nd XV 43

It wasn’t the best start to the day for our pre-season friendly against Farnham, as an unfortunate spate of illness meant Barnes Women turned up with no subs and no coach. However, we didn’t let a little thing like that worry us and spirits were high in the changing rooms.

The team were led out by 2’ss captain Ashley Brandon, with a slightly unexpected line up including four forwards in the back line. Farnham’s team seemed to include about 100 players in what looked like a well-oiled machine, and it is fair to say that Barnes were there for a good time, not expecting a win!

We soon surprised ourselves. After some excellent defensive work on the right wing by Hollie Bonner (good use of the 16th man), our forwards took the opportunity to show Farnham what they could do, with several big crashing runs up the middle. The ball then moved out to the backs and Taz Bogue made the first of several auditions to be moved to the wing, with a big looping run around Farnham’s defence to score under the posts.

Farnham quickly responded with a try of their own out on the wing. Some really physical play followed this, with huge hits from both sides, but once again Barnes came out on top with another try for Taz. The referee was heard to comment that she was ‘slightly faster’ than him - an understatement!

A strong Farnham lineout, led to Barnes taking their eye off the defence, leading to a fantastic run from the Farnham prop, scoring under the posts. The game was neck and neck. Morven Logan decided to take matters into her own hands and barged off up the pitch, but unfortunately was held up under the posts.

Some great Barnes attack saw Farnham being pinned on their own line. Helpfully, one of their players pointed out loudly that no one was defending the blind side, and Charlotte Edwards took this advice seriously, scoring round the side of the ruck. We went into half time with a one try lead.

Half time saw the Barnes players eating sweets on the floor, while Farnham endured what looked like a very serious team talk.

The second half started well and, within a few minutes Taz had run straight through Farnham’s defence to get herself a hat trick. A spate of line outs and scrums allowed our forwards to show what we can do in the set piece, with Liberty Conlan moved from wing to number 8, and acting as jumper for the second half. A strong scrum in the middle of the pitch, allowed the back line to execute a classic move, and great hands from Melisa Vilca to Hollie created another try out wide.

It looked like Farnham’s subs might be giving them the edge for a while, as they then scored twice in quick succession, and an unfortunate boot to the eye on Annie Nikaj meant Barnes went a player down. However, some great defensive work followed this, and after yet another great scrum Barnes lengthened their lead with a score from Ruth Motterhead.

A second try from Ruth up the right wing with five minutes to go, put Barnes far enough ahead so we could relax. Farnham then had a yellow card against their scrum-half, for a too exuberant hand off against Ruth Mottershead, and Taz booted the penalty kick straight at a baby in the crowd - possibly for pay back, we aren’t sure!

The final score was 43-20 to Barnes.

A big shout out to Liberty Conlan on her first game for Barnes, and in a new position, she put in a huge shift, and did some great work at the break down.

Zoe Hawkins had a fantastic game, back after a long break, and we are excited to see her play more this season.

The forwards player of the match was Morven Logan, the backs player of the match was Melisa Vilca.
The overall player of the match was Charlotte Edwards, and the player selected as the opposition’s player of the match was Ruth Mottershead.