From Harvard’s Gridiron to Oxford’s Rugby Pitch

Posted by Kendall Harmon

By the time the phone rang at 5:30 one morning two years ago, Will Johnson was already intimately acquainted with tradition in college sports. He had stood proud at Harvard Stadium and battled the enemy in the Yale Bowl. He had played in the Game.

But the voice Johnson heard through his sleepy haze was telling him that he still had plenty to learn about tradition.

Johnson was being offered the chance to play in an older rivalry, one between universities that make Harvard and Yale look like expansion teams: Oxford and Cambridge. He could not turn it down, even if it meant moving to a country he hardly knew and playing a sport he had only just met.

On Thursday, Johnson will pull on his navy blue Oxford rugby jersey to face Cambridge in the Varsity Match, which stands alongside the Boat Race in the two universities’ annual tussle for bragging rights. He called it a one-game season.

Read the whole article.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Education • Sports • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A. • England / UK

6 Comments
Posted December 10, 2009 at 6:24 am [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. RichardKew wrote:

Yes, today’s the big day… and after last year’s very close game we in Cambridge are hoping for a better result for our boys this year. The Light Blue captain played international rugby for Australia!

December 10, 8:47 am | [comment link]
2. rugbyplayingpriest wrote:

It is a sad reflection on both universities that, both the rugby teams and rowing eights, actively recruit athletes rather than just playing their best undergards. Brilliant rugby player but not gifted academic- then land managment at Hughes Hall kicks in!!

Still go Cambridge!

December 10, 10:32 am | [comment link]
3. RichardKew wrote:

And Cambridge won 31-27

December 10, 10:56 am | [comment link]
4. magnolia wrote:

fab story! thanks for posting.

December 10, 11:52 am | [comment link]
5. USMA74 wrote:

Nice to see that the article mentioned Pete Dawkins of Army Football fame (Heisman winner).  Speaking of great rivalries - greater than Harvard / Yale, greater than Oxford / Cambridge is the annual Army /Navy Football game - this Saturday in Philadelphia.

“The Army-Navy football game will feature the very best of college football. The players in this game, unlike the rest of college football, know the meaning of sacrifice. They are playing football because they have chosen a career in the military and that is what is really important to them. As much as each team wants to win this football game, both always know they will be called to serve together. When they graduate they will likely have to run through a hail of bullets in a foreign land to save a comrade. They know what is important in life to them. You will not see a Midshipmen or Black Knight after they make a great play do the King Tut Strut in the end zone. They are solely playing for the their love of the game and our country. Thanks guys, as you are the very best of us.”

Also, Army has a pretty decent rugby team of their own.  The Army Rugby Team was founded in 1961 and for over 40 years has been a leader in USA Collegiate Rugby.  The Army Ruggers are West Point’s most winning team. In 1980 the USA Rugby Collegiate Championship playoff system was established.  Since then, the Army Rugby team has qualified for every Sweet 16 Tournament and also reached more then 10 Final Fours.  The Army Rugby team has finished second in the nation 3 times. All Cadet classes play and the team currently has over 90 members drawn from the United States Corps of Cadets fielding four rugby sides. The Division-1 A and B sides battle for dominance in the fiercely competitive New England Rugby Football Union while the Division-2 C and D sides challenge every year for the title in the Metropolitan New York Rugby Football Union.

Go Army!  Beat Navy!

December 10, 6:09 pm | [comment link]
6. Pageantmaster [Free Archbishop Cranmer] wrote:

There are some reports now up:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/8387115.stm
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_union/article6952410.ece
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/6780832/Cambridge-University-31-Oxford-University-27-match-report.html
No video yet - it can be seen only on Sky as far as I know.

December 10, 6:41 pm | [comment link]
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