Crimson Ruggers Lose Bermuda Cup to Dartmouth

The Crimson rugby team's efforts to regain Bermuda's Intercollegiate Cup fell one score short of success last Saturday, as Dartmouth edged to a 3-0 victory on the strength of a penalty kick.

It was the third consecutive final for the Big Green, who lost to the Crimson in 1955 and took advantage of the locals' absence to win last year.

In matches with non-college opponents the ruggers lost to the Montreal Barbarians, 9 to 8, and beat a British Combined Services team 25 to 0, to even their season's record at 2-2.

In its opening game against the Barbarians, the Crimson was very unlucky to lose. Charles Levine crossed the line once, only to be called back for a minor infringement, and Hal Churchill, playing his first game for the Crimson, ran just beyond the abbreviated end zone before touching the ball down. (In rugby the ball must be grounded for a score.)

Football players Jim Damis and Jim Joslin were more successful in their attempts, each making one try (worth three points) with Joslin kicking one two-point conversion. Six of the Barbarians' nine points came on two penalty kicks (given instead of yardage after an infringement).

Against the Combined Services, the ruggers took advantage of an untimely Royal Navy cruise to run the Army substitutes ragged, in what Bermuda's Mid-Ocean News called "a display of rugby seldom seen in this Island."

Joslin scored three more tries, one on a 75-yd. run, and Damis one more, and they were joined in the scoring column by Joe Conzelman, Tom Fritz, and Ron Eikenberry. Scrum-half Alan Waddell played his usual outstanding game, and the forwards kept control of the ball for the Crimson for almost the whole match.

In the Intercollegiate Cup match, Darmouth won by the smallest possible margin, but it was definitely the better side. This time it was the Crimson's turn to play a defensive game.

Ash Hallett and newcomers Stan Merkel and Bill Gill all did a lot to break up the strong Indian forward rushes, but in general Dartmouth's heavier scrum dominated the game. The Crimson was hampered by the loss of Bob Huff with a broken rib, and the absence of Tom Fritz with a bad sunburn.

Captain Terry Turner moved up from the back row to an unaccustomed position, filling in for Huff.

Fine tackling by the Crimson three-quarters, especially Churchill, Eikenberry, and Damis, was all that kept the score so low, as the Dartmouth backs were given few chances to get moving at full speed.