Sevenoaks take the win against High Flying Barnes!!

Sevenoaks Rugby 31 – 27 Barnes RFC

Sevenoaks Rugby welcomed Barnes to Knole Paddock on Saturday 6 January 2024, as both teams set to each other in a highly engaging encounter that went all the way down to the wire. Within 10 minutes the scores were 7-7. Barnes secured the opening try with an excellent rolling maul from the Oaks 22 ending up with the ball being dotted down in the shape of Ethan Sirorski, and Josh Davies duly slotted the extras. The Barnes rolling maul was a weapon all day for the visitors that the navy and gold struggled to keep at bay. Oaks’ swift response came from a well-worked lineout move as Matt McRae barrelled over the line and Ben Adams got the conversion. Game on.

The game was highly combative and the Barnes forwards carried the ball strongly into the Oaks defensive sets, and it was this resilience that ultimately told as Josh Livett danced through for Oaks to score their second and once again Adams secured the conversion.

The next try, from Oaks, was a worldy as a move down the left side of the pitch after Oaks had moved the ball from coast to coast and retained possession across several phases ended in a deft inside pass that Alexi Hicken collected to dive in under the posts. With the Adams conversion and a subsequent penalty the home side were making hay at 24-7 up. Barnes then took the game to Oaks in the final quarter of the first half and put some excellent moves together. From these phases Rory Marsh barrelled over the line and Davies’ conversion then subsequent penalty brought Barnes back into the game. In fact only solid Oaks defending kept their line in tact at the end of the first half as the teams headed into the sheds with Oaks holding a 24-17 advantage.

Barnes carried this momentum into the second half and once again it was the rolling maul from 15 metres out that resulted in a try for the visitors, through flanker Alex McLean who impressed in the loose all match, and alongside others in the Barnes back row kept making inroads into Oaks territory. Davies secured the extras to bring the teams to level pegging.

In the final 30 minutes there was a long period of Oaks ascendancy as the navy and golds parked themselves in the Barnes 22, all helped with heft and impact off the bench. However each time Oaks threatened the Barnes try line either Barnes sniffed out the attack or an unforced error or penalty against Oaks them held back. So inevitably Barnes capitalised, and moved the ball rapidly up through the outside backs into the Oaks 22 where somehow the home side managed to thwart a sequence of catch and drives by Barnes from a sequence of line outs right on top of the Oaks line. The fourth time Oaks halted the Barnes lineout, it was deemed an illegal sack and Davies stepped up from close range to give Barnes the lead with around 10 minutes left on the clock.

Oaks were far from done and after some excellent moves through the middle of the park a gap final appeared for Hicken to secure the second of his brace, in a try that Adams converted – with Oaks holding on for the bonus try win and huge credit to Barnes for bringing everything they had to the Paddock.

SQUADS

Sevenoaks Rugby Club

Adams; Hickin; Stone; Corrigan; Forrester; Livett; Galligan. Simmons.J; Sedgwick; Simmons.T; Burmeister; Green; McCrae; Higgins. Naismith; Richardson; Horner; Lee; Cambier.

Barnes RFC

Watson; Osbourne; Souter; Weightman; Webb; Davies; Nixon. Wood; Ruddock; Dean; Ascroft-Leigh; Murphy; Gallagher; Mclean; Nixon. Sirorski; Marsh; Spencer-Jones; Wilstead; Lloyd

Referee: Phil Russell, RFU National Panel and Hertfordshire Society. Assistant Referee 1: Ben Mcnamara; Assistant Referee 2: James Richardson. Fourth Officials: Glenn Waltham; Grant Scandling.

HALF TIME SCORE

Sevenoaks 24 – 17 Barnes RFC

Sevenoaks Scorers

7: Matt McRae T Ben Adams C

18: Josh Livett T Adams C

23: Alexi Hicken T Adams C

28: Adams Penalty

75: Hicken T Adams C

Barnes Scorers

5: Ethan Sirorski T Josh Davies C

32: Rory Marsh T Davies C

38: Davies Penalty