Last weekend will go down as one of the special ones for me that I will remember well into my dotage, not for our rugby for a change but for the poignancy of our young ones gathering together in total silence after their training session on Saturday morning whilst Hector Price playing The Last Post on his bugle. Hector, now an adult but very much a home-grown player who started his rugby playing days in our Minis section, epitomises all we try to achieve with our youth players. Utterly brilliant it was.

A huge thankyou to Rich Mayson (Mase) who devised and conducted the day with the military precision befitting his status as a Royal Marine. The day started off with military-stye training and challenges which Mase and seven of his ex-Royal Marine colleagues delivered to young and old alike, and after the dignity of the of the last post and wreath laying next to a silhouette of a saluting soldier, the was lunch for nearly 100 folks in the clubhouse before the Old Albanians game at which we were regaled by military documentary maker, Chris Terrill. An extraordinary day which those present will always remember. Thank you Mase again, and also it was brilliant to see fellow soldier and club man Adam Libbey down addressing the young troops too!

My final anecdote on Remembrance Day is that Mase not only originated and drove the day as I said previously, but he also housed 7 ex-Marines in his house, much to his wife Tori’s surprise no doubt, not just for one night but for two – such is Mase’s commitment to the green and gold!

On the pitch, Barnes Men’s 1st and 2nd XV’s both won against Old Albanians, the 1st XV let a decent lead slip to end up 36-30 winners, whilst the Raiders won rather more convincingly 38-21. On Sunday, the Women’s 1st XV continued their steep learning curve in the championship, going down at Barn Elms 14-9 against high-flying Battersea Ironsides.

This weekend we have four adult teams in action, the Men’s 1st travel to play in-form Bury St Edmunds, who will be cock-a-hoop after their 1 point away win at Dorking, D’s first loss of the season, it is a difficult place to go at the best of times but this weekend the Wolf Pack will be baying for our blood!

The Raiders are at home to Rams 2nd XV with a 2pm kick off, and the Occies complete Saturday’s fixtures with a road trip organised to play Farnham.

On Sunday our Women’s 2nd XV are back in action, as they travel to play Hackney.

Here’s to a brilliant weekend of Barnes Rugby, all played in the original spirit we so love at Barnes RFC.

Onwards and Upwards Barnow!

Michael “Rhino” Whitfield - President Barnes RFC

Barnes Men’s 1st XV 36-30 Old Albanians 1st XV - words by Tom Macarthur (Frank the Tank)

On a glorious day in the November sunshine, Barnes emerged victorious in a close-run (but scrappy) affair, putting the Londoners joint top of National Two East with Dorking.

Barnes scored first following some overwhelming forward pressure after a Ben Cook break saw the electric Josh Davies scurry over under the sticks.

The Hertfordshire men then recovered a kick-off, which we definitely should have done better with, and sustained possession resulting in a well-worked try for their second row Sebastian Mummeri, converted by Sam Jones.

Barnes hooker Ethan Sikorski dotted down again after a strong driving lineout and the ping-pong scoring rate continued.

OA’s Winger Hugo Watson then scored quickly, with Jones getting the extras.

Sikoriski quickly added try number two after good pressure from the Barnes pack.

Some sustained forward pressure from Barnes put OAs under the pump, with a penalty try denying livewire hooker Sikorski his hat-trick.

A penalty before half-time meant there was 9 points difference at the half.

HT: 26-17

In the second-half, Old Albanians began to throw everything at Barnes as the arm-wrestle intensified.

A converted try from Pete Weightman, then a penalty from the increasingly impressive Ben Cook, gave the green and gold a further advantage, before a dominant scrum led to another three points.

An OA’s penalty kept them in the fight, and their forwards fought bravely to crash over from a lineout maul, seeing the score creep to 36 - 30.

The game suddenly became scrappy and, with a Barnes prop in the bin, the home side fought bravely and defended well to secure two bonus points against a very talented opposition.

FINAL SCORE: 36-30

Barnes Women’s 1st XV 14 - 49 Battersea Ironsides Women’s 1st XV - words by Captain Ruth Mottershead

This Sunday we played a very impressive Battersea Ironsides team. They have had a strong season, and we knew this would be a big test. Sure enough Ironsides came out flying, and the game was played at a speed we hadn’t met before. They soon broke through our defence and scored several times in the first half.

We managed to pull ourselves together 20 minutes in and hard defence paid off. We kept most of the possession for the rest of the first half, with Tati called as held up over the line. Eventually our pressure paid off and Bigland went flying up the wing to score.

The second half was a much stronger performance from us. We kept the pressure on in defence, and a string of penalties by Ironsides saw them get a yellow card. Despite a good amount of possession, we struggled to capitalise and score. Ironsides were clinical in attack, and every mistake by us was punished. However, a huge shift from our forwards kept them pinned in their 22 for a good amount of time, and Mairead went over to score.

This fixture was definitely one that showed us where we aspire to be in a couple of seasons time. Despite the final score of 14-49 to Ironsides we can take away some positives and plenty of things to work-on.

There were huge performances across the squad. Forward of the match was Annie who carried hard all game, always making ground.

Back of the match once again was Bigland with a fantastic performance on the wing, strong in defence and attack.

Players player this week was Chedwards, who was outstanding as always and even stood in a scrum half for some of the game after injuries.

Tries Bigland and Mairead
Conversions Ruth x 2

Barnes Raiders 38 - 21 Old Albanians - words by Coach Dom Palacio

Raiders took on Old Albanians 2nd XV in a non-league fixture, in an attempt to keep up the teams winning momentum, after the dominant performance the week before, away at Richmond.

Another strong side was selected, seeing Hooker - Dev Hope return as well as Back row - Ben Christie and Wing - Chris Stegmann, returning after a couple weeks away playing for the German National 7’s team.

The first half was a scrappy affair with both team’s exchanging scores, the Raiders seemed a little off the pace in comparison to the previous week, with the OA’s scores being conceded off the back of Raiders mistakes.

Half time score was 17-14 to Barnes.

Skipper Gadsby, with input from the coaching team rallied the team, with the focus on “doing the basics” better and controlling the game with our planned systems until we earned the “right to play”!

With changes in the centres, and at fly half, the second half was more like the previous few weeks Raiders’ performances. Introduction then of the forwards off the bench raised the team’s positive response further.

At around 60 minutes, our fly half Harry Mercer suffered a horrendous jaw break. Harry was taken straight to hospital and has since undergone surgery. The thoughts and best wishes of everyone at Barnes RFC go out to Harry and we hope you have a quick recovery.

Raiders would score 3 more tries and OA’s just one more of their own.

Final score was 38-21. Man-of-the-match was James Gallagher.