Commonwealth Sparks Crimson Rugby; Squad Anticipates Spring Victories

The Crimson Rugby Club, already the winner of two trophies this year, looks forward to engaging the Montreal Wanderers tomorrow at Woburn. Though made up to a relatively high degree with inexperienced players, the team's record so far this spring has been more than successful and promises to be the best in recent years. This is due primarily to a greatly increased interest in the sport.

Unique in its representation of all bodies in the University the Club has now forty men actively competing for starting berths. An extremely healthy situation, this exists despite the absence of financial support by the H.A.A., which subsidises only those sports with exclusively undergraduate participation.

The players themselves pay most of the expenses, but as Capt. Hal Churchill says, "We want to maintain a sport which is open to all in the University. If this necessitates foregoing financial support, it is worth it."

As a club, its president, Bill Morse, handles all administrative matters such as the scheduling of games, and arranging for the Bermuda trip. The coaching is done primarily by fullback Dick O'Neil.

Since the start of spring practice in the middle of February, the squad has assembled a great deal of talent, and with each practice has improved markedly. The current starting team centers around a core of men who have grown up with the game in other countries.

Churchill, Morse, and five football players compose the rest of the fifteen. Though Saturday's game will be only their fifth the ex-gridders have progressed admirably, and some of them, Hank Keohane, Jim Keating, and Chris Hauge, are now outstanding.

An exceptionally high morale among all its members has been a major cause of the Club's rapid advance. Each man is attracted by the unfamiliarity of the sport, and gives all he has in learning it. With forty men on the squad, the competition is stiff, and the second team scrum has developed into almost as strong a unit as the first.

An absence of injuries has also been a tremendous help. Keating sustained the only serious one in Bermuda, a broken nose, but he has healed sufficiently to play tomorrow.

In rugby, as in hockey or basketball, each player must have the ability to improvise. They must be able to pass at any time and take immediate advantage of an opponent's mistakes. This awareness grows with practice, and the backs have now become a quite mobile unit. The teams highest scorer, Langy Kaviliku from Tonga, and O'Neil, who grew up in Dublin, are both excellent passers. With center David Holmes they pose a big problem for the opponents.

Up front Graham Russell from Scotland and Jack Butterfield, a Canadian, provide power and experience, and with the remainder of the team all showing eagerness and ability, it can look ahead to its next six games with confidence.