It has been a couple of weeks since I posted an update, so this is a bumper one!
Last weekend there were two fixtures of note, the Women’s 2nd XV winning away at Tabard 22-24 in a last gasp win, whilst the Under 16’s secured victory against Richmond with a conversion to take the spoils from Richmond 26-25.

Match reports are below for both of these cracking Barnow games.

You can read below also the reports from the previous weekend, where our Men’s 1st XV beat Worthing away, relatively comfortably 19-41, whilst our mighty Men’s 2’s took part in an epic 39-39 draw against Blackheath’s 2’s - what a cracker that was!

This weekend we are knickerbockerglory full of rugby at Barnes Rugby Club!

Saturday sees our lovely French friends from Laon visit Barnes on the occasion of the Minis and Juniors Lunch, and of course when England take on the French at Twickenham, what a day they have in store!

The Men’s 1st XV takes on arch-rivals Guernsey at 2pm, whilst our 2nd XV travel to Richmond and take on the Vikings at the same time.

The Originals and Occies team up in round robin games against Grasshoppers and Medicals RFC to honour Poppy Drew, the daughter of Originals legend Frodo (Eddie Drew), the games kick off at 11:30am. And finally on Saturday, our Women’s 1st has a rare Saturday outing, away at Hampstead.

On Sunday our Under 18’s are at Barn Elms against London Irish at 11:30am and the Women’s 2nd XV are back in the saddle away to Kilburn Cosmos.

What an incredible weekend we have in store at Barnes Rugby Club!

Hope to see you at the club over the weekend - Onwards and Upwards Barnow!

For Rugby! For Friendship! For Life!

Michael “Rhino” Whitfield – President Barnes Rugby Club

Saturday 8th Fixtures
• Barnes 1st XV vs Guernsey Raiders - 2pm KO
• Richmond Vikings vs Barnes 2nd XV - 2pm KO
• Originals & Occies vs Grasshoppers - The Poppy Drew Memorial Match
• Hampstead Women’s vs Barnes Women 1st XV - 1pm KO
Sunday 9th Fixtures
• Barnes Under 18’s vs London Irish Under 18's - 11:30am KO
• Kilburn Cosmos vs Barnes Women’s 2nd XV - 2pm KO

Tabard Women’s 2nd XV 22 - 24 Barnes Men’s 2nd XV - words by Alex Walker
It was a beautiful day for rugby on Sunday - dry with blue skies and soft ground, making a change from the recent run of terrible weather.

The 2’s had a mixed team, borrowing players from our friends at Imperial College and a local(ish) team to Tabard, Old Northamptonians.

The game started well, with some quick tries from Angie Chow and Claire Godwin, both running practically the full length of the pitch to score, with one conversion from Noor Limmer. The 2’s defence was strong, particularly against Tabard’s big, physical pack and hard carries.

We ended the first half 17-0 but struggled to come into the second half with the same focus and intent.

Tabard quickly drew even and it was up to Barnes to dig deep, switch back on and show some resilience to win the game. It was a very tight finish, with two tries from Noor Limmer, Alex Walker, and a conversion from Izzy McDonald sealing the win at 24-22 in the last 10 minutes.

Back of the Match went to Bianca Elias, showing exceptional courage and skillset for her second ever game of rugby.

Forward of the Match went to Jessica Phelan for her directness, great lines, long strides and strong carries.

Chipotle Players Player: went to Noor Limmer for her absolutely ferocious tackles, control of the game and willingness to push her skillset kicking for Barnes.

They were debuts for Kate Child and Izzy McDonald (Old Northamptonians) and Haya Aslan (Imperial College). Thanks all!

Barnes Under 16’sw 26-25 Richmond Under 16’s - words by Spence

Barnes Under 16’s took on local rivals Richmond Under 16’s on Sunday.

Barnes stormed to a good lead with well worked tries from both wingers and then a try early in the second half from the Barnes hooker.

Richmond kept themselves in the game with some outstanding kicking from long range and showed enormous spirit to storm back to lead Barnes 26-20 with five minutes remaining.

But many of this team have been together for 10 years and are brother in arms - there was no thought of quitting, Barnes kicked off and hounded the Richmond players, eventually securing the turnover and after a series of attacks scored a try to make it 26-25.

The Barnes kicker was under pressure, or so we thought, he certainly didn’t and kicked the goal to prompt huge celebrations. It should be said the spirit and grace Richmond showed was really classy and they played a huge part in making it a really great game.

Worthing Raiders 19 - 41 Barnes Men’s 1st XV - words by Rhino
After several recent games played in wet, windy and generally horrible conditions for rugby, this game was blessed with a windless, sunny afternoon. Barnes kicked off and started fast and almost scored the first points of the afternoon but having charged down a clearance kick they were adjudged to be offside, and Worthing relieved the early pressure.
After six minutes Barnes had their first line out and, from a catch and drive, hooker Matt Humphries scored a try to give Barnes the early lead at 0 - 5. After thirteen minutes, with Worthing on the offensive, Barnes counter attacked from deep and full back Elliott Haydon scored a converted try to stretch the lead to 0 - 12.

A few minutes Barnes later we notched up our third try, number eight Ben Christie topping off a spectacular try to stretch the lead to 0 - 17, which actually turned out to be the try of the week in National League 2 - woo hoo!

Right on the stroke of half time, we mounted an attack from a line out and prop George Dean executes a couple of outrageous dummies and a Chris Ashton swan dive to score under the posts to make it 0-26 to Barnes at the break.

From the line out we mounted another attack that resulted in a converted try for
The second half was a much better affair for the home side. With possession from the scrum, Raiders were able to gain ground and put themselves in a good attacking position in and , after several attempts at close range, Sam Cook eventually got over the line to score for the home side, with the successful conversion, the score was now 7 - 26.

Twelve minutes had been played when Worthing made a neat half break up the right wing, however at the tackle the ball was turned over by Barnes and centre Paul O’Dell scorched up the pitch to score converted, the score now 7 - 33.

Halfway through the second half, Barnes scored a further try through fly half Will Nicholson to extend their lead to 7 - 38.

Barnes really switched off at this point which allowed Worthing to score two more tries, and we added a penalty to make the final score: Worthing Raiders 19 Barnes 41

Barnes Men’s 2nd XV 39 - 39 Blackheath Men’s 2nd XV - words by Dom Palacio
After a tough encounter last weekend, losing against Championship outfit – Chinnor, next up was National One side – Blackheath Club XV (2nd XV). Blackheath (BH) siting on top of Raging Bull Merit League One, with our Raiders just one point off them in second.
With more returning players to the men’s senior squad, we had strength in depth throughout the selected team.

With glorious sunshine and very little wind, the conditions were perfect for some exciting running rugby, which would benefit both teams.

BH started the brightest and made an immediate impact with a try after just 3 minutes, they continued to have most of the possession for the next 15 minutes or so but then set a “gift” of a pass for our Flyhalf Archie Heard to intercept and run 60 metres downfield to put our first points of the afternoon on the board, which he then cooly converted.

Both teams exchanged “punches” for the remainder of the half with two further ties each. Our Scrum and Lineout were functioning well and Hooker James McCarthy scored both of our tries from the back of our Maul.

Half time – 17 all

The second half would continue in a similar vein to the first, with both teams exchanging blows, one would score, and the other then would also score, with no team standing out as being the more dominant team.

We went ahead at 57 minutes with McCarthy getting his Hattrick, 29-22. The exchange of scores continued with two more tries a piece. We were clinging onto a one-try lead with just 2 minutes to go. Alas BH won a penalty on our 22 and then went over for the last points of the afternoon.

Full Time: Barnes Raiders – 39. Blackheath Club XV – 39
Man of the Match – James McCarthy with his Hattrick of tries. a