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.