'This Bud's for You'

They are 15 of Harvard's finest athletes. But the Harvard varsity coaching staff can't tell you about it.

They are in the league championship game. But the Harvard Athletic Department can't tell you about it.

They are one of Harvard's finest athletic squads of the year. And the Harvard men's rugby team would love to tell you about it.

For come high noon tomorrow, the Crimson ruggers will put their unblemished 5-0 season record on the line in the title game of the New England Championships. An equally impressive Boston University squad is the only thing standing in the way of the ruggers' sixth victory and first title of the year.

So while Joe Restic, Greg Gizzi and company toss the forward pass down Providence way tomorrow, John Beilenson and company will attempt to convert a few tries into a league title.

All this excitement from a team that doesn't even hold varsity status, one the Athletic Department has virtually nothing to do with. Nevertheless, it's excitement from a team that's rapidly becoming one of Harvard's finest and most popular.

"We've been getting some 80-90 people down for practices," says Rugby Club President Mark Hissey. "And we've been getting some 200-300 down to watch the games."

What's this? Rugby becoming a popular spectator as well as player sport? Here in the United States? Oh, say it ain't so, Sam.

But as Hissey will tell you, the sport that often brings its competitors closer than marriage has reached epidemic proportions in the United States during the last few years.

"I think the main reason it's caught on is that it offers everything Americans want in a sport," he says, explaining, "Americans love non-stop physical contact."

Ah, that good o!' non-stop physical contact. It'll get you every time.

At Harvard, where the game got started relatively early, the social aspect of the last few years is giving way to a less light-hearted outlook.

"The beer's still there," says Hissey. "But things are a lot more serious now."

It all figures to get a lot more serious tomorrow when the Terriers and Crimson tangle for the title. With the top two squads in the area's "A" division, there figures to be as much action on the field as suds on the sidelines. What the Crimson, which has shut out three opponents this year, will find in B.U. is a larger and more physical squad.

The ruggers say they've got something to counter that. But they can't tell you about it.