Barnes clinched the National League Three championship with a six try victory over Ampthill at Barn Elms on Saturday.

It was the visitors from Bedfordshire who had the best of the opening exchanges, and indeed, storming start resulted in an early try from Luke Radley, with Danny Pointon converting.

As the game reached the quarter of an hour mark, Barnes gradually got a foothold in the game, but it was still slightly against the run of play when Josh Clements broke through to score and Warren Gower added the extras.

With the scores now level, Barnes had confidence coursing through their veins and this was apparent when Simon Givens and Damian Hoo plunged over the try line in quick succession. Gower kicked both conversions and a penalty to leave the hosts ahead 24-7 at the break.

The second half was, at times, quite disjointed due to Ampthill being continually penalised, which led to a total of five visiting players being dispatched to the sin-bin.

Barnes took full advantage as Warren Gower dived over on the far right-hand side and then added the tricky conversion to the cheers of the large crowd. Simon Givens capped a fine display with his second try of the afternoon and Alex Preece took Barnes score past the forty point mark. Ben Brierly had the final say for Ampthill late on with a try.

However, this wasn’t going to dampen the celebrations of an outstanding afternoon for Barnes who celebrated the championship and a place in National League Two South which means the mouth-watering return of the Barnes v Richmond derby!