Rugby Club Routs Yale, 16-0; Completes Fall Season at 3-4

The Harvard rugby club turned in one of its most impressive performances of the year Saturday as it wore down a strong team from Yale in a 16-0 victory, brightening the end of an often disappointing season.

The first half turned into a war of attrition as each team lost players in brutal scrum battles on a wet and icy turf. Only near the end of the half could fullback Gary Bond break the stalemate by making a winding run that resulted in Harvard's first four points.

Bond started at mid field, slipped off one Yale forward, dodged another with a fake pitch and tripped up a third with a graceful stutter step before slipping a pass to hooker Tom Grady, who ran the ball in.

The second half was fought out in Yale territory. The Harvard scrum overpowered a smaller and weaker set of Yale forwards, but the Eli backs put up a scrappy defense that kept Harvard out of their goal for most of the period.

As the Elis began to tire, however, Harvard's offense exploded in the last five minutes of the game. Inside center Mike Dematteo added Harvard's second goal when he fell on a little kick that originated in the Crimsom scrum and dribbled into the endzone.

Two minutes later, Dematteo grabbed an Eli kick and slanted into the left corner of the endzone for his second tally of the day. Wing forward Dave Wagner's conversion kicks upped the final score to 16-0.

The win left the Crimson ruggers with a 3-4 season record. After the game, club president Bill Mullin said of the season, "We did real well at home, but the road trips were disappointing."

Three of the team's losses came during hard weekends at McGill, Dartmouth and Princeton, and the only loss at home was suffered in a close game with league leading Brown.