University of Virginia Library

Rugby Tournament Begins Saturday

Scrummers Jump For Ball In Line-In During Sunday Contest

Battles Will Occur This Weekend On Nameless, Carr's Hill Field

This weekend the Virginia
Rugby Club hosts its eighth annual
Commonwealth Cup, always one of
the highlights of the spring sports
season here at the University.
Victory in the Cup gives the winner
a strong claim to the number one
ranking in Eastern Rugby.

The first Cup was held in 1962,
and Princeton beat Yale in the first
championship match in a four team
tournament. The Cup was
expanded to eight teams in 1967,
and Old Blue was the winner. Old
Blue repeated last year defeating
Virginia, 6-3, in a memorable
championship match witnessed by
several thousand spectators. The
match received national coverage in
Sports Illustrated. Old Blue is a
strong favorite to make it three in a
row this year.

Impressive Field

The lists of participants is again
impressive and includes Amherst,
which was ranked number one
among college sides last year.
Amherst rugby is strengthened by
the fact that the school has no
spring football practice, the football
players being encouraged to play
rugby. Indiana, who holds the Big
Ten rugby championship, will be
here, as will Brown, who won the
Commonwealth Cup in 1963 and
1966. A perennial powerhouse, Holy
Cross joins the field, and the
Toronto Old Boys will also present
a strong challenge, bolstered by
having several former Canadian
football players in the ranks.

Philadelphia, an excellent club
team with a wealth of experience
gathered in their nearly annual
tours of England, and Old Blue,
which has been number one in
Eastern Rugby for the past three
years round out the eight team
field. Among the more noted
performers for Old Blue are Roger
Dennis, ex-N.Y. Giant flanker; Tom
Haggerty, a former Columbia
All-East quarterback; and most
noticeably, Mike Smith, who has
played on the first side of the
English national team.

Never Won Cup

Virginia, which has never won
the Cup, but has gained the finals
on four occasions, has a 5-2 record
this spring with both losses coming
in hard-fought affairs with the
powerful Washington Rugby Club.
Virginia is always at her best in Cup
play.

The Virginia lineup for the
tournament includes David Percy, a
former Oxford University rugger, at
hooker; the props will be George
McCallum, a third year Law student
and club president; and 210-pound
Mike Roche, a fourth-year
Philosophy major. At second row
will be 6-6, 220-pound captain Jim
Rollins, a third-year Law student.
The other second row will be either
Jim Hawkes, 6-4, 220-pounds,
third-year College, or John
Barbiera, of the Graduate Business
school, who is 6-11, 300-pounds.

The lock will be either
red-bearded Graduate English
student Jay Waldron, 6-3,
200-pounds, or Jim Hawkes.
Third-year men Mike Richwine,
J.B. Trew, and second-year man

Randy Covington may also see
action in the scrum. Completing the
scrum will be wing forwards Byron
Shankman, third-year College, and
Terry Daniels, in Graduate Business
work. First-year Law student John
Pearson is the alternate wing
forward.

The scrum half is Wick Williams,
fourth-year Architecture; and the
fly half is Alistair Duckworth, an
assistant professor of English.
Henry Dudley, third-year College,
may also see action at fly half. The
centers are Courtney Hoopes and
Tom Furniss, who are both noted
local educators; Marty Millichap, a
first-year man, is the back-up man
here.

The wings are Alan MacAllister,
fourth-year College, and Sam
Robinson, second-year Medical
school. Butch Dietler,
fourth-year College, and Dick
Cross, fourth-year Architecture, are
alternate wingers. Finally, the
fullback will be Larry Swartz, a
Ph.D candidate in Economics.

Schedule

Each team will play two
matches of 80-minutes on Saturday
and then on Sunday. Matches on
Saturday will be played at both
Nameless Field and Carr's Hill, and
are scheduled at 10:30 AM, 12
noon, 3 PM, and 4:30 PM.
Virginia's first match is at 10:30
against Holy Cross. If the Cavaliers
win, they will play on Nameless
Field at 3 PM. The championship
match is scheduled for Sunday at
1:30 PM.