Rugby Club Strengthened By Gridiron Conversions

If numbers indicate enthusiasm, the Harvard Rubgy Club ought to have a terrific spring season. Since practice began three weeks ago, between forty and fifty men have come out, some to learn the game, others to get in shape, and several who hope to play on the team in Nassau over spring vacation.

The club had hoped to take a side of fifteen men to Nassau to play two games with the Nassau Rugby Association and one against Yale. However, the unexpected resignation of Rubgy Club Captain Richard Carey two days ago has made it doubtful that the trip will take place. Tonight in Briggs Cage, after the election of new officers, the fate of the trip will be decided.

Football Players Galore

The plethora of football players in the scrum this spring should have a great effect on the tone of the game. Instead of being wide-open, a greater amount of action will take place in the pack. Emphasis on the forwards will make this more of a contact sport than the English game and may result in a unique brand of rugger, according to Rubgy Club President Jeff Pochop.

Ray Vickers, an experienced scrum half, will return to that position. Soccer player Sandy Whitman, out for his first season of rugby, will fill the hooker's slot. Doug Hall, Dick Schulman, Whit Lee, and freshman football player Steve Diamond play prop.

In the second row, tough football tackles Mike Foley and Jeff Pochop will be hard to move. Backing them up in the last row of the scrum will be more gridiron veterans -- Gene Skowronski, Brad Stevens, Dick Lozeau and Lloyd MacDonald.

Junior Gage McAfee, an excellent rugby player, will return to the backs. Askold Kohimann and Jim Schwartz, both ex-football players, will also play in the wing.

Football Instincts Dangerous

Pochop feels the squad has tremendous potential, but says it's difficult to tell more at this stage because there have been no outside practices yet. Some of the football instincts might be hard to curb, he fears. "It may take the line a while to get used to the idea that breakthroughs with gains of 5 or 10 yards aren't worth much in rugger. Getting it out to the backs and then following up may result in a try."

The Club's first game is scheduled for April 11 against M.I.T.