M. Ruggers Barrel By Holy Cross, 26-9

The original Crusade was not entirely successful. The Crusaders from Holy Cross were less so.

Holy Cross faltered during the final 12 minutes of its match with the Harvard rugby team, allowing three tries and succumbing, 26-9.

With Saturday's victory at Franklin Park, the Crimson (5-3 overall, 3-1 Metro Boston) captured a New England Tournament berth, finishing second in the league.

Both sides entered the contest with identical 2-1 league records, and awaiting the winner was a tourney spot. Holy Cross, however, has not been a consistent contender, and the Crimson were surprised by the Crusaders' high level of play.

"Holy Cross was quite big and committed, and tougher than anticipated," Harvard Coach Martyn Kingston said.

Leading, 10-0, at the half, Harvard lost its rhythm, and the Crusaders tallied nine points in the first 28 minutes. Superior fitness and skills finally came to the fore, however, as the Crimson loosened up, scoring 16 points in 12 minutes to run away with the game.

Co-Captain Eric Chehab and sophomore Lauren Rose each scored two tries, as the forwards' play continued to improve.

According to Co-Captain Andy Pinkerton, Chehab's scores were directly attributable to his execution at the flanker position. "Chehab was running well off the ball and was the first guy to tackles," Pinkerton said. "He supported the play well, and was able to exploit that."

Tournament Thoughts

"We are playing like the second-best team in New England right now [behind Boston University]," Kingston said. "Our seeding will probably not reflect that, since we finished second in our league."

The tournament will be played at Worcester November 3-4, with the top two teams continuing on to the Northeast Regionals two weeks later. Besides B.U. and Harvard, the other New England tournament qualifiers are Norwich, Dartmouth, Yale, either Brown or the University of Connecticut, and the finalists from this weekend's Division II tournament.

Harvard should get a good bearing on the relative strengths of their potential non-league opponents when it faces Dartmouth Saturday in Hanover, N.H. Traditionally one of the powerhouses in the New England tourney, the Big Green has struggled this year, despite the addition of a world-class coach from Australia.

"The new [Dartmouth] coach might be a problem, actually," said Pinkerton, in reference to Dartmouth's earlier losses to Williams and Maryland. "His expectations might be too high."

With its 18-0 defeat of Holy Cross, the B-side extended its shutout streak to six games.