Last weekend delivered on its promise of being a Big Barnow Jamboree - and what a treat it was.
It started on Saturday, with one of our favourite clubs to tour, Laon, visiting us for a change, playing London French and then joining the Minis and Juniors massif of 150 young ones and adults for lunch.

Barnes Men’s 1str XV then overcame Guernsey 24-14, whilst the 2nd XV lost narrowly 26-24 to Richmond Vikings in the last play of the game. Just up the road at Grasshoppers, the Originals and Occies teamed up in a round robin competition to celebrate the life of Poppy Drew, daughter of Originals legend Eddie, who’s life ended tragically early. Barnes did win both their games, but this was secondary to the remembering Poppy.

In a rare Saturday fixture, our Women’s 1st XV travelled to Hampstead and lost narrowly 0 -12, whilst back in the clubhouse the buzz was palpable, partly due to the launch of our new brewery relationship with Asahi, and partly because of the Six Nations games being showed, happy hours (3 of them!) were very well received by the players in particular!
On Sunday, our Colts went down to London Irish 24-45, whilst our Women’s 2nd XV won well away to Kilburn Cosmos 5-15.

All of the match reports you can find below, enjoy the read!

This weekend the rugby just keeps on coming!

All of the fixtures are away, so a rest for Zoe and her tireless team, with the Women’s 1st XV away at Streatham and Croydon on Sunday, whilst the Men’s 1st XV face a tricky encounter away at Havant.

The Men’s 2nd XV is away at Bishop Stortford, whilst the Occies have a short journey at Old Wimbledonians.

Here’s to another fab weekend of Barnow Rugby!

For Rugby! For Friendship! For Life!

Michael Whitfield - President Barnes RFC

Saturday 15th February Fixtures
• Havant 1st XV vs Barnes Men’s 1st XV - 3pm KO
• Bishop Stortford 2nd XV vs Barnes 2nd XV - 2pm KO
• Old Wimbledonians vs Barnes Occies - 2pm KO
Sunday 16th February Fixture
• Streatham & Croydon 1st XV vs Barnes Women’s 1st XV - 2pm KO

Barnes Men’s 1st XV 24-14 Guernsey Raiders - words by Rhino
Barnes won this full-blooded encounter 24-14 with the scoreline not reflecting the dominance of the home team.

Barnes dominated a pretty one sided first half, opening the scoring after 11 minutes through flanker Angus Farqhar after series of phases in the visitors 22. Ten minutes later, try scoring machine Jacques Birch turned provider by nudging through a delicate grubber kick for Ollie Walker to touch down out wide, Elliott Haydon adding the extras to give Barnes a 12-0 lead.

From a Barnes scrum penalty, Guernsey were more alert and cut through the middle for full back Callum Roberts to score. Ciaran McGann slotted the extras to reduce the deficit to 12-7 with 10 minutes of the half left. Barnes regained the initiative through their powerful forwards, second row Arinze Okemuo. With the conversion missed Barnes led 17-7 at the break.

It was much the same story in the second half, although both sides scored a try a piece. The Barnes score came after 52 minutes, with the backs scorching through the Guernsey defence, Birch finishing a pacey move and Haydon converting to extend the score to 24-7.
With two minutes to go, prop Ross Kane was yellow carded for not retreating after Guernsey penalty (to be honest he looked grateful to get into the warm!) and Guernsey bundled over with replacement James Burger going over, and McGann again converting to make the final score in an entertaining game 24-14 to Barnes.

A glorious weekend of Minis and Juniors Rugby – words by Boris Pomroy
A big weekend in the youth section too. Minis lunch for 150 (including 25 of our best friends from Laon), followed by 10 teams and over 120 players representing U7-U10s at the Cobham/Chobham/Reeds festival today.

Barnes U16's game followed the Minis festival at Reeds
Full-time Reeds U16 17 - 19 Barnes U16, real nail biter to the very end.
Meanwhile we had a record TWELVE teams representing Barnes across our Juniors - from U12’s all the way through to Colts and two girls’ teams - featuring over 250 players. (Including some pretty impressive results!)

Poppy Drew Memorial Game at Grasshoppers 8th Feb 2025 - words by Jose Fernandez
A little over a month ago the call went to for Barnes Originals to play in round-robin tournament and fundraiser at Grasshoppers RFC in memory of Poppy Drew, daughter of Eddie Drew aka Frodo. Eddie played no.9 for the Originals and was an integral part of our league winning team in 2016. As expected, the team sheet was filled in record time as Originals old and new, including Occies, came together in support of Eddie and his family. First up Barnes were pitted against a much younger Medicals RFC.

The wet drizzly conditions aided and abetted a very open game with lots of running and even more missed tackles. Crimes against handling were aplenty. After 35 free flowing minutes Barnes edged it 6 tries to 5 in a good, spirited game. Unfortunately, the energetic nature of the game took its toll with Barnes losing a number of players to injury. Next up Barnes played our very welcoming hosts Grasshoppers RFC with Eddie at no.9 for them. In a far more competitive encounter Barnes once again edged the game 2 tries to 1. We were treated to some glimpses of magic from the old double league winning back division, “They’ve still got it”.

Eddie also put in a great shift in opposition reminding us of all of why he is so much loved at both Barnes and Grasshoppers. Yesterday was the epitome of grassroots rugby, played in the original spirit. A bunch of ageing men putting their bodies on the line to support one of their own whilst raising money for a very worthy cause. It's not about the results. it's about the camaraderie and making sure the cow doesn't score! See photo.

A huge thank you to Grasshoppers RFC and Medicals RFC for a great couple games and coordinating such an important fundraising event in memory of Poppy Drew. Over £5,000 was raised for the Off the Record yesterday. A local charity providing much needed help for young people suffering from mental health issues. You can donate here https://otrtwickenham.com/donate/

Richmond Vikings 26-24 Barnes Men’s 2nd XV – words by Senior Coach Dom Palacio
Saturday saw us travel the short distance down the A316 to play local rivals Richmond Vikings. Earlier in the season we won the opposite fixture by just one point and of note, it was the first time Barnes 2nd XV had beaten RFC Vikings (they have one the Raging Bull Merit league on multiple occasions over the years).

A strong team was selected; however, we had two loan players in the squad as well as a young new back row player – who were a bit of an unknown. All faired admirably!

With plenty of rain overnight on Friday, the pitches at the RAG were very soft and wet so keeping our attack tight was a must! Both teams started brightly, with the Vikings have most of the possession on the first 30 minutes, we had to be on point with our defence. The game was turning into a “arm wrestle” with neither side able to break through each other’s defence.

We kept the Vikings from scoring on multiple occasions with a very disciplined and tenacious defence. We broke the deadlock just 4 minutes of the half to go with a try off the back of a maul, Hooker - Cam Ruddock touching down and Fly Half – Archie Heard adding the extras.

Just minutes later, we scored again with a brave attacking play from our backs, scoring another try just before the break.

The Vikings team included players with plenty of Championship and National League One experience, so we anticipated a big reaction from them in the second half!

The Vikings came out in the second half with vigour and scored twice in the first 10 minutes to bring the scores level, to 12 All. However, after their second score, we immediately responded with a well-worked try-out wide.

Vikings would score and convert again just before the 60-minute mark, to put them ahead for the first time; 19-17. Of note their second score came whilst we had a player on a yellow card for a high tackle, this would prove to be the crucial score for them.

Despite this we focussed on what would be an historical result should we take the spoils. Our final points of the afternoon came again of the back of our maul at 74 minutes! 19-24!
Alas, our victory wasn’t meant to be and the strength in depth of the Vikings team got them over the whitewash with just a minute to go!

An amazing performance from the men from SW13! Considering our team selection and their vastly more experienced team!

Full Time – Richmond Vikings 26. Barnes Raiders 24.

MOM – Cam MacDonald at Scrum Half, who controlled our attack and defence superbly all afternoon!

Women’s Rugby 8th and 9th of February 2025 - words by Skipper Alex Walker
What an epic weekend of rugby for Barnes women! The 1st XV got the weekend started with their match against Hampstead Women, a very muddy affair and a very physical match. Barnes came out extremely determined to make it a good contest and that's exactly what it was! A huge performance from Barnes but Hampstead took the win 12-0.
Today the 2’s travelled to Kilburn Cosmos

It was an early kick-off Sunday @12:30pm for Barnes 2s against rivals Kilburn Cosmos. The field being drained that morning, thanks to the hard work of Kilburn Cosmos, ensuring a playable terrain. Fortunately, the mud remained in heavy patches resulting in a very fun but messy game.

The 2s pulled together a few good friends from Imperial College, to ensure a 15-woman squad that came up against a large contingent from Kilburn Comos – their bench seemed to overflow.

But strong as ever, Barnes pulled together to ensure a walled defence in the first half, that brought the biggest Kilburn forwards down. And with a strong & patient attack, managed to score 3 tries once reaching the oppositions 22. Noor Limmer managed to slip her way through Kilburn defence twice for 10 points & our beloved Edy miraculously scored a try after an injury to her finger, which I would like to point out resulted in a 5min stoppage. Half-time 15-0 to Barnes!

Second half Kilburn brought sheer determination & through their strong blitz defence prevented any further tries for Barnes. Their forwards also rallied together and managed to break Barnes defence, making some amazing runs from the half-way line and resulting in a try. Final score 15-5 to Barnes.

Back of the match went to Molly Taylor, for her amazing try-saving tackles & running efforts to ensure Barnes back-line always outnumbered the competition.

Forward of the match went to Sammy Meacock, who did an excellent job playing hooker for the first time, even managing to kick the ball back seamlessly to our 8 in 1 smooth motion.

Chipotle Players Player went to Victoria Henley for her excellent leadership on & off the field, pulling the team together for the win, stepping-in also as vice-captain for the day.

Special shout out to Liv Branga who did also did an amazing job stepping up for the 2s as Captain!