Ruggers Outplay Quincy, 11-3

The Harvard rugby team put on a scoring burst in the second half Saturday morning to defeat the Quincy Men's Rugby Club, 11-3.

After playing what co-captain Peter Hilton called "the worst rugby a Harvard team has ever played" in the first half, the Crimson tallied on a penalty kick and two tries, while Quincy notched only one penalty kick in the second half.

Lazy Bones

After going to the Business School field the Quincy contingent showed up at Soldiers Field a half hour late, to the dismay of the Crimson ruggers, who had been lazing around in the warm morning sun.

"In the first half, we weren't psyched and nobody was hitting," Hilton said. "They were just pushing us around the field. The backs were dropping a lot of balls."

But the second half was another story, with the Crimson scoring its first points five minutes into the period. Forwards Walter Herbert and Charley Smith dominated the loose play that led to Hilton's 15-yard penalty kick, awarded to the Crimson when Quincy went offside in a scrum.

Quincy came right back three minutes later to tie the score at 3 apiece when the feisty Harvard players were penalized for rough play, allowing the visitors to boot a 35-yard kick.

That penalty kick was the end of Quincy's scoring for the day as the Crimson dominated the line-outs and the scrums, aided by the experienced hooking of Keith Oberg.

Harvard scored its first try from a set scrum when Carl Esterhay passed the ball to John Weston who lofted a kick inside the Quincy zone. When the Quincy fullback tried to clear the ball, center Blayne Heckel blocked the kick, picked the ball up and raced 15 yards for the try. Harvard missed the two-point conversion.

The Crimson's continued domination of play paid off ten minutes later when Harvard scored its final try. Harvard won a loose maul sending the ball out to fly-half Hilton who dribbled the ball along the ground. Center Ned Childs scooped the ball up and passed it back to Hilton who scored despite being hit at the goal-line. Again, the Crimson missed the conversion when the kick went wide of the goal-post.

Harvard continued to pressure Quincy for the final ten minutes of the contest, but the visitors hung tough at the goal-line, stopping Harvard from scoring again.