Rugby Team Upsets New Yorkers; Visitors Lose First Game of Year

The Harvard Rugby Team played its best game of the year in a surprising 17-15 upset victory over the favored New York Rugby Club on Saturday.

The New York team was generally rated the top squad in the East as it went into the game with an undefeated record. The Crimson had been disappointing, having lost two games in a row before Saturday. They had been soundly beaten by Dartmouth two weeks ago, a team that New York had edged 6-5.

Richard Shulman, president of the the Rugby Club, felt that the team finally jelled last week. "Many team members had not played together before this year, and it took six games for them to learn how to play rugby." Before this game, Shulman added, the team made innumerable errors, but "at last gained the confidence they needed."

Ian Paisley Tyler, a veteran back, led the Crimson with two tries, with Leo Freeman and John van-Schalkwyk adding one apiece. According to Shulman, the game was won in the scrum, where "we simply out-hustled the New Yorkers." Led by Jerry Pieh, a second row forward, the Crimson cleared the ball from scrum much more consistently that in their previous games.

The Rugby Club's record now stands at 2-2-2, as their only previous win was over a very weak MIT squad. In early season games, they fought to disappointing ties with both the Montreal and Boston Rugby Clubs.

Since Yale does not play rugby in the fall, the Crimson will play Amherst in a preliminary to the Yale football game this Saturday. This may be the team's toughest game of the year, as Amherst appears just as strong as last year's team, the Eastern Rubgy Union Champions.