Rugby Club Readies for Westward Trip, Will Play Eastern Tourney Saturday

Harvard's reigning Ivy champion rugby club is preparing for its first West Coast tour, sweeping the country immediately after the first round of the Eastern Rugby Championships this Saturday. The trip is planned for spring break and includes four strenuous games in eight days.

Three weeks of rigorous 7 a.m. practices primed the players for the trip. Club president Marc Hissey said he expects "good weather and strong competition." The ruggers face the nation's top-ranked Cal-Berkeley, then challenge Hastings Law School Club, Santa Barbara and the University of Southern California.

In off-the-field action, the Club has lined up sorority parties at Santa Barbara and the University of California at Los Angeles, and its first West Coast "Pig Roast." The ruggers also cited a visit to Disney land as a necessity to their training program.

Despite the hoots and hollers from club members at the mention of roasted pigs at practice yesterday. Coach Martin Kingston emphasized that the tour was a "very serious one, geared at providing strong preliminary training for the Club's spring season."

Unfortunately Kingston, as well as one-fourth of his top players, will not be making the trip, because of scarce funds. Rather than spend practice time raising money, the club members acquired the $325 total needed to make the journey, themselves.

The increasing cost of running the club sport, magnified by this trip, may make the prospects of Varsity status more enticing for the traditionally easy-gong rugby club that is now becoming a more serious team. However, Varsity status is not the club's goal. "What the team is really after," said Kingston, "is cooperation, support and respect as a serious sport."