Rugby Swings Into Spring

The Harvard men's rugby team opened its spring season against Boston College yesterday, two days after returning from a 12-day schedule of matches against rugby teams in France.

Harvard and B.C. played to a 4-4 tie in the "A-side" contest, while the Crimson's "Killer B's" defeated the visitors 6-0 in the "B-side" match.

The "C-side" Eagles returned the favor with a 6-0 victory of their own, then completed a sweep of the lower matches with a 4-0 win in the "D-side" contest.

"We played okay in the first half," said Crimson Co-Captain Ray LaRaja of the A-side effort, "but we got sloppy in the second half. I don't know what the story was. Maybe we were looking ahead to Saturday."

The Crimson travels to Williams this weekend for a match against the Ephmen, but the squad is mainly looking forward to the Ivy League Championships to be played in two weeks at Brown.

Even though Dartmouth is considered by many to be the best in the Northeast, the Crimson likes its chances for success at the tourney.

And although Harvard lost all of its matches against its French opponents, "the team really came together as a unit," said Steve Rehmus, President of the Rugby Club. "We're working much better as a team because of the tour. We're really confident we can take it to them at the Ivies."

The defending Ivy League champion Radclifferugby team will host this year's league tournamentSaturday at Soldiers Field.

The team expects to be seeded second in thefield behind Cornell, but ahead of Dartmouth.Traditionally the Big Red and Big Green haveprovided the Black and White with its toughestmatches, and this year should be no exception.

Cornell probably earned itself the tournament'stop seed by virtue of its victory over Radcliffelast fall--the Black and White's lone defeat ofthe year.

"We're expecting to [beat Princeton in thefirst round] without a lot of trouble," saidCo-Captain Katherine Lemon.

Barring a major upset, Radcliffe will then faceDartmouth in the second round, with the finalsslated for Sunday morning.

The Black and White has captured both of itsmatches of the spring season, first besting theUniversity of New Hampshire 24-0, then recording avictory-by-forfeit over Maine