Ruggers Crush Amherst; Prepare for Cal-Berkeley

The Harvard men's rugby club is enjoying life while it can.

The Crimson crushed Amherst, 40-4, in a Metro League makeup game yesterday at Worcester. But next on the schedule is mighty Cal-Berkeley, which has claimed six of the last eight national championships. The Cal-Berkeley game is scheduled for tomorrow at 12 p.m. at Soldiers Field.

"This is an excellent test for us [to play Berkeley] the week before New England Championships," Co-captain Jon Greenberg said. "It's a chance for us to see how we do against top competition." The New Englands will be held November 4-5 in Worcester. The winner of the tourney will qualify for the regional playoffs in New Haven.

The Crimson (7-3 overall, 4-1 Metro League) came out strong against Amherst, needing only four minutes to build a 10-0 lead on trys by seniors Dave Bulger and Tim Perini and a Bruce Miller conversion. Despite amassing an early advantage and leading, 16-0, at the half, Harvard had a surprisingly difficult time with Amherst.

"Despite the score, they were a physical team and a pretty talented team," Greenberg said. "Scoring 40 points against them was a lot more of an achievement than scoring more than 60 against Tufts. This was not a walk-over team."

Three more conversions (one each by Mark Sagarin, Bulger and Pete Wilenski) in the first 11 minutes of the second half extended the Crimson's lead to 30-0 before Amherst was able to break through with a try of its own.

Sagarin went on to score two more trys in the half to lead the team in scoring with three on the day. Co-Captain Scott Hilinski closed out the scoring with a try in the final minute, and Miller had eight points on four conversions for the Crimson.

The key to the Harvard victory, according to Greenberg, was the work of the players in the scrum. "The whole game sort of hinges on possession," Greenberg said, "and we had the ball for well over two-thirds of the game. That's what we've been working on the past few weeks."