Ruggers Fall in Mud

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--The Harvard rugby club wanted a little revenge. It wanted a shot at Brown, and it wanted to win back the lvy League title.

Instead, the ruggers ended up with a lot of mud, a consolation crown by default and too much of Princeton.

The Tigers defeated the Harvard rugby football club, 10-0, in the first round of the 19th annual lvy League Tournament here on a muddy Dexter Field in front of more than 150 spectators.

The first round elimination marked the first time since the 1977 tournament--when the squad finished seventh--that the ruggers have not qualified for the finals.

One bright spot for the Crimson was the play of junior forward Kris Thabit, who was named to the first-ever All-Ivy squad.

Relegated to the losers bracket, Harvard ripped Columbia, 20-0, won the consolation tournament when Cornell decided not to make the trip back to Providence yesterday. Despite the consolation title, the club was still disappointed with its first-round performance and fifth place finish.

"We are very unhappy with the lowest finish for Harvard [since 1977]," Crimson Coach Martyn Kingston said. "We are just finding it difficult to put into the game the things we practice on all week."

On Saturday against Princeton, Harvard was unable to capitalize on the few scoring opportunities it had, committing a season-high 19 penalties (13 more than its seasonal average).

"We are one of the smallest teams in New England and we have to be very disciplined to keep possession of the ball," Kingston said. "The penalties take away our time with the ball and give up valuable field position."

After losing to Princeton, the Crimson shellacked Columbia by 22 points later that afternoon. Shut out for the entire 70 minutes against Princeton, a rejuvenated Harvard squad struck quickly against Columbia, scoring after only two minutes of play.

Junior wing Richard Butcher took a pass from scrum-half Michael Gibbs and coasted 15 meters for the try.

Ten minutes later, senior Chris Stephanoni scored off a nice feed from Scott Tierney. Fullback Nathan Koenig converted to increase Harvard's lead to 10-0.

The ruggers displayed some great athletic effort on their final two trys. With time running out in the first half, inside center Chris Arbery sliced through the Lion defense for big yardage. A great defensive play by Columbia appeared to stop Arbery at the goal line, but the 160 pounder spun out of the tackle and muscled his way into the end zone for the score.

A hard-nosed run by flanker Dave Beardsley closed out the scoring with five minutes remaining. Columbia won the ball in a scrummage situation, but misplayed it, leaving the ball on the ground. Beardsley alertly snatched the ball, rambled through three Lion defenders and carried two others into the end zone as he slammed the ball down for the try.