Oxford Rugby Team Defeats B--Side

Although they spent most of Sunday evening sampling American brew at the Bow and Arrow Pub, the 20 players on tour from Oxford University Balhol College had no trouble displaying Britain's traditional prowess in rugby, demolishing the Harvard Rugby Club's B side yesterday, 29-0.

Crisp passing, accurate drop kicks and evasive running enabled Balhol to control the ball for most of the game, keeping the Harvard players behind the midfield line throughout the match.

"Your boys are bigger, but we've had much better training." Balliol's Tim Cumming said after the game. "Most of us started playing rugby when we were nine or 10 years old."

The match ended the British ruggers' two week American tour, adding to victories over MIT and Columbia and a loss to Yale. After their match against Albany College was snowed out, the team spent the day skiing at Piko Peak.

While the British players admitted that American college rugby has improved greatly in the last few years, they said players here could not match the 120-year tradition of intramural rugby at Oxford.

Most of Oxford's 32 residential colleges field rugby teams, and Balhol is ranked about eighth "College rugby at Oxford is based on enthustasm," said Balhol Captain David Pringle. "None of the teams have coaches. We're organized informally."

Jello

The Balliol team overpowered Harvard in almost every scrum by giving them ground and then pushing them back when they got off balance. "They didn't put any pressure on us at first," said freshman Hassan Raffat. "It was like pushing on jello."

Their running was all too predictable," said Balliol fullback Jeremy Gould. "They were afraid to plow straight ahead. We could tell they were going to pitch it to the side."

Luckily there were no injuries for the Harvard team, which had no replacements for its 15 players. And the bruises of the Balliol men who were hurt by some particularly hard tackles were soothed with snow from the sidelines of the MIT field.

Under the Table

After the game, Harvard players hosted the Balliol team at a Kirkland House party. "The game isn't over until we drink them under the table," said Social Chairman Brian Reynolds.

THE NOTEBOOK: The Harvard A-side, which could not play Balliol last week because of snow, is resting up for the all-Eastern tournament at Princeton next week.