Another long one for you to read about the exploits of your Barnow! It records one of our best 1st XV wins of the season, if not the best, and news of our Colts and their magnificent win in the Surrey Waterfall Cup, so do persevere through the ramblings of an aged Chairman!

After the previous week’s win against Dings, Barnes travelled to Bury with growing confidence, having won three out of the last four games. What transpired was right at the edge of our expectations, a win by two points, against a side we have never beaten away from home, and who we lost to earlier in the season, in an agonisingly close 10-12 result.
In fact all of our games against Bury have been close encounters, and too often we have ended up on the losing side.

But not this time. As the clock went into the red zone, the Bury maestro Drury-Hawkins, impeccable with the boot all afternoon, stepped up to take a conversion from the touch line which would have earned Bury a draw. As he stared at the ball, the near hysterical announcer screamed “ and here is our saviour…Drury-Hawkins..he never misses you know”....you could have heard a pin drop, he lined the ball up carefully, he struck it sweetly, the ball soared majestically through the air, end over end, as if in slow motion, and gracefully...it slipped right past the front of the uprights. Game over. Barnes won, but what a game of rugby.in truth, a draw would not have been an unfair result, but we will of course take the full five points!

I stood amongst the Bury massif for most of the afternoon. The banter and beer flowed merrily, back and forth between us, and they were incredibly magnanimous when defeat eventually came their way. They really are a lovely bunch, and we enjoy their company as much off the pitch as the players enjoy the thrust and parry on it.

As to the game itself, well it was a very topsy turvy affair throughout.

Bury took the lead 5-0 after five minutes, and were pegged back to 5-3 a Josh Hammett penalty after a quarter of an hour, immediately followed by man-mountain Matt Steele, who crashed over. Josh Hammett added the extras and we led 5-10, a murmur of surprise rippled through the home crowd. A Bury penalty was all that was added in the first half, which meant we led at the break 8-10. To be honest we held on for dear life for the last twenty minutes of that first half as we came under a lot of pressure in the tight, having lost two front rows, both our talismanic skipper, George Hunter, and the young tyro hooker, Alex March. Frank the Tank and Thomas Boaden put their bodies on the line for Barnow though and we did hold on.

After a fairly attritional first half, the second half was a positive jamboree of festival rugby in comparison with seven great tries. Bury kick off the try-fest, after only four minutes, taking the lead 15-10. There followed a purple patch for Barnow, an outrageous miss three pass from fly-half Basil Strang, gathered by the grateful Jimmy Adams, set the tone. Further tries from Cameron Ruddock and Harry Salisbury saw Barnes in a seemingly comfortable position at 15-29.

But, as I said previously, these Barnes vs Bury games are always close, and this one proved to be no exception. Bury stormed back with two converted tries, and suddenly it was 29-29 with ten minutes to go.

The Bury massif howled at moon for their Wolfpack to overwhelm Barnes’s defence. Wave after wave of Bury attackers were repelled by the green and gold of Barnes, and then Barnes went hunting themselves, creating a huge amount of pressure on the Bury line.

Bury eventually cracked, and the Napoleon-like commanding figure of Josh Davies, swash-buckled his way over, roaring as he dotted down. Josh Hammett slotted the extras and, with five minutes to go, Barnes led 29-36. Game over?

Not a bit of it, this drama had more twists and turns than a game of twister on a roller coaster. Bury scored in the last minute. 34-36….the kick was missed, and the rest is history.

Bloody well-played Barnow! We played with flair, with passion and with a great deal of determination. It was Barnes 1st XV rugby at its very best, and the lads deserved the celebrations that took place for many hours afterwards!

This Saturday, we entertain Leicester Lions, for the first time ever at Barn Elms ,on the occasion of the 12th Barnes Vets Annual Lunch. Leicester lost last week 17-20 to a resurgent Esher, but they beat us earlier in the season there 21-9. The Lions are in 6th place in National League 2, one place above Bur (and 6 places above us) and they have been a great addition to the league this year. There is no doubt that we are going to have a real scrap on our hands against them but, after winning four out of the last five games, Barnes too will be up for it. Bring it on I say! What say you?

The annual Vets Lunch started 12 years ago, as a wake for the then President Neil Bruce-Copp, who tragically died of cancer that season. As there was no game that day due to the frozen pitches, we started drinking at 11 am and finished, well let’s say very late in the evening, and well after Marty and I were barred from the Red Lion!

This year’s lunch is even more poignant, as we also lost Monique, Neil’s wife, also to cancer, late last year. They both loved their rugby, and we all loved them too. Please do join me and take a moment on Saturday to remember these two legends of Barnes Rugby Club. We miss them

Other games last weekend
Barnes 2nd XV travelled to Jersey last week. After a 5 am start for many, we started slowly but recovered to at halftime. We had several opportunities to score in the second half but failed to take them, allowing Jersey to reassert control and win comfortably in the end 40-12.

There were two brilliant games last Sunday. Barnes Ladies 2nd XV beat Hammersmith and Fulham’s 2nd XV 32 – 5The league leaders had not lost this season, but they did come a cropper here against our Barnes Ladies. A brilliant result for Barnow.

On a glorious Winter’s morning, Barnes Colts played Guildford Cotls in the final of the Surrey Waterfall Cup. In only their fifth game together, Barnes Colts' first-half display blew away Guildford, and we led 22-5 at the break, courtesy of four tries from a racehorse masquerading as Barnes fullback Jack Seymour, he is one to watch of that I have no doubt. This is a remarkable result for the club, and special mention not just to all of the lads and their parents, but also to Colts Coach (and 1st XV hooker) Cameron Ruddock, and of course the Juniors Chairman, Jason Betteley, who’s passion, vision and determination culminated in that win. A very proud day for both of them, and a day for us all to be proud of the club we all love so much.

Here are this weekend’s fixtures in detail:

Saturday 25th January

• Barnes 1st XV vs Leicester Lions - 2pm KO

• Old Tiffinians vs Occies - 2pm KO

Sunday 24th January

• Barnes Ladies 2nd XV vs Dartfordians Ladies - 2pm KO

Here’s is to an amazing weekend of rugby at Barnes RFC, and to a very special day of memories at the Vets lunch on Saturday, and may we play in the original spirit that we so cherish at Barnes.

If you want to come to the lunch, then please let me or Angus Graham know though the contact pages of this website. If you can’t come to the lunch then please, please, please do come and support Barnow on this special day, in this vital game. It’s a 2pm kick off at Barn Elms. See you there!

Onwards and Upwards Barnow!

Michael Whitfield - Chairman Barnes RFC