Stuart Barnes

Stuart Barnes

Date of birth	22 November 1962 (1962-11-22)
Height	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
School	Bassaleg School
University	St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford
Occupation(s)	Sports Commentator
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	fly-half
Amateur clubs
Years	Club / team
1980 - 1983 1983 - 1985 1985 - 1994	Newport RFC Bristol Bath
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1984 - 1993 1993	England British Lions	10 8	(34) (33)

Stuart Barnes (born 22 November 1962 in Grays, Thurrock in the county of Essex) is a former English rugby union footballer, and now rugby commentator for Sky Sports. Barnes played fly-half for Newport RFC, Bristol, Bath; and represented England and the British Lions at international level.

Biography

Born in Essex, Barnes was educated at Rougemont and Bassaleg Schools in Newport. A talented sports person, as a football player he was closely followed by a number of professional clubs including Cardiff City. Choosing rugby as his sport, Barnes captained Wales Schools at both Intermediate and Senior age groups, playing alongside Nigel Callard (brother of England international Jon Callard), and Paul Morris.

Barnes studied at St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford where he won three rugby Blues. He captained the team, and played against Cambridge University's Rob Andrew in the Varsity match.

Club career

While at University, Barnes played club rugby for Newport RFC. He graduated in 1981.

Barnes later played for Bristol Rugby, including in the 1984 RFU final against Bath Rugby. After being on the losing side for Bristol in that final, he was to join Bath.

He arrived at Bath aged 22: "disaffected with England and, with my volatile character, I could easily have drifted out of the game altogether. At the time the big joke was that I'd had more clubs than Jack Nicklaus - Newport, Bristol and Bath by 22 and people doubted my character, they thought of me as being very fickle and at Bath I found what I wanted - a rugby home.". His first Bath game was on the 7 September 1985 versus Plymouth Albion on the Rec. He would later captain Bath to the first League/Cup double achieved by an English team.

International career

While at Bristol, Barnes made his England début (against Australia in November 1984), and represented the British and Irish Lions at international level. He gained ten caps for England and played his last international match in 1993 against Ireland. Barnes played for the Barbarians on eleven occasions, including at the Hong Kong 7’s in 1982 and 1989. He scored two tries, 19 conversions and eight penalties (70 points) in Barbarians colours.

Life after playing

Barnes' last game was the Bath versus Leicester Pilkington Cup Final on 7 May 1994, which Bath won 21–9. He resigned from the Bristol and West building society shortly afterwards. Barnes became a freelance writer and reporter for the Telegraph, and wrote his autobiography Smelling of Roses. He edited the short-lived rugby magazine First XV in the mid 90s.

As the professional era commenced, Barnes became a more familiar face as a summariser and pundit on both television and radio for the BBC, before securing a permanent position on Sky Sports's coverage of the Guinness Premiership. He eventually gained status as the network's main Rugby co-commentator, offering analysis alongside Miles Harrison. The pair were also loaned out to ITV for their World Cup 2007 coverage.

Personal life

He was nicknamed The Barrel, or The Bath Barrel,

External links

• Statistics at Scrum.com
• 1994 Interview post his retirement
• Lions profile