Rugby Squad Splits Twin Bill; B Team Captures 'Beanpot'

Get up at 8 a.m., put on your shorts, go out in the freezing rain and pound heads and smash bodies together for two hours before lunch. Then, after you've gotten so cold, wet and bruised that you feel like crawling into your General Electric toaster-oven, go out and do it again. Sounds a bit crazy? Well, that's rugby.

In the first Rugby Beanpot Tournament, held last Saturday at St. John's Seminary near B.C., the Harvard ruggers defeated B.U., 12-8, in the morning game, then lost the championship match to B.C., 18-3.

No doubt stunned by the miserably frigid weather, the Crimson started with a whimper against B.U. as the hardy Terriers jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead. But Peter Hilton's try and a conversion by Dave Albala gave Harvard the lead, 6-4.

The Crimson scrum then took control of the game; in one instance they pushed B.U. back 30 yards. And the backs turned some crisp passing into even longer gains.

Two successful penalty kicks by Albala and a second-half B.U. try brought the score to 12-8 by game's end and put the Crimson in the finals against B.C., who had just beat Tufts, 20-3.

Our now battered and bruised ruggers never had a chance against the Eagles, still fresh after a romp over the Jumbos. The victory over B.U. was a Pyrrhic affair, for the Crimson lost the services of Mickey Doyle (sprained ankle) and Sal D'agostino (bogus ejection by referee), and the remainder looked to be in less than perfect condition.

B.C. rolled to a 12-0 halftime lead, taking advantage of the sloppy Crimson backfield play. Only Albala's running dropkick near game's end saved Harvard from the big doughnut.

The Crimson B team ruggers were the heroes of the day as they trounced Tufts 22-6 in the morning game, and then hung on for a dramatic 9-7 victory over B.C. in the afternoon to capture the rugby version of the Beanpot.

In the championship game, Jim Durham put Harvard ahead, 3-0, with a 30-yd. penalty kick that was followed by a spectacular break-away try involving several backs and forwards. Durham's conversion put the score at 9-0. B.C. countered with a try and penalty kick to make it 9-7.

A ten-minute goal-line stand led by Easy Ed Waterhouse preserved the victory for the Crimson ruggers.