Old Blue Slashes 'em Again

Fittingly, the title game on a sunny Sunday afternoon was between Old Blue and Virginia, two very different teams. The collegians were a mishmash of undergraduates, med students, law students and even an assistant professor of English, Alistair McKay Duckworth, who knows a lot about drop-kicking and 19th-century English novels. They were wearing brand-new dark-blue-and-orange-striped jerseys that were brought down from Canada by the Toronto Old Boys.

Mishmash or not, the Cavaliers of Virginia were tough and full of college spirit. Butch Dietler, one of Virginia's wings, was the school's intramural boxing champ. Inside Three-quarter Julian Raney led the Eastern Rugby Union in scoring last year.

Old Blue had several handicaps. There were not enough black jerseys brought along, so it was outfitted in blue-and-white stripes that looked much less terrifying. Two stars also were missing. John Wellington, Columbia's director of admissions, was busy with the student rebellion and Scrum Half Dick Donelli stayed home with his wife, who was expecting twins. Also, 14 kegs of beer had been consumed the night before at a rugger party.

The game had just gotten underway when Old Blue was saddled with another handicap. Virginia's Butch Dietler tackled Wing Harry Hersh and the collision caused every beer can in the vicinity (and there were many) to pop open by itself. Hersh was lying there, out cold, neatly holding the ball on his chest like a corpse holding a lily. He was taken to the university hospital with a concussion and did not return to action. There are no substitutes in Rugby, so Old Blue had to go with 14 men.

Almost immediately afterward Lineman Mike Shonstrom caught a hip with the top of his head and was knocked out. When he came to on the sideline he did not have the faintest idea where he was. Two down, 13 to go. The game was stopped nine times for injuries, seven of those to Blues.

Virginia took the lead when Alistair Duckworth made a dropkick from 20 yards out, but Old Blue couldn't get by the bamboo curtain at all in the first half, even though Shonstrom returned. The Cavaliers led 3-0.

A nifty play by Derek Bush tied it up just after half time. He was awarded a penalty kick about 10 yards out from the Virginia goal but at an impossible angle. He noticed the opposition backing up and talking among themselves, so he pulled a tricky little maneuver that is perfectly legal in Rugby. He kicked the ball a teeny bit, picked it up, faked to Tom Haggerty and raced for the end zone, diving in for the try. He missed the conversion.

Old Blue went ahead to stay when Carlos Blanco ("Just call me Charlie White") kicked a little squibber into the Virginia end zone and Bush fell on it for another try. And that is how it remained. Desperately kicking out of trouble, surreptitiously grabbing a Virginia jersey now and then in line-outs, constantly checking with the referee on the time remaining, Old Blue just did manage to hold off the Cavaliers from tying the score. When the ref blew his whistle after the second 40-minute half Virginia was within a few feet of the goal, but the score was still 6-3, Old Blue.

"I suppose it's an honor to be on the same field with Old Blue," said Professor Duckworth, as one of his young teammates sat on the grass nearby with his head buried in his arms, the picture of defeat and exhaustion.

Somehow Old Blue had forgotten to bring down the Commonwealth Cup from New York. Probably thought it would be such a bother to have to haul it back again. So Captain Tom Haggerty, in a ceremony conducted on the rear of a truck, was given a trophy perfectly symbolic of Rugby and Old Blue—an empty beer can.