Last spring the Crimson rugby team won the Intercollegiate Cup. Last fall they played three games without a win. Today at 2 p.m. the ruggers hope to get back in the winning habit, as they face last year's Eastern champion, New York Rugby Club, at Van Cortlandt Park in New York.

The chances for the Crimson's starting the season off right look good, although exams and injuries have hurt the side. In 1955 New York lost 0 to 6 in Cambridge and tied the return game, 13 to 13.

Of the absentees, Captain Lionel Bryer, is lecturing in St. Louis, while varsity football players Orville Tice, Charlie Eaton, and Ash Hallett, all of whom have rugby experience, have badly timed hour a research fellow at the Dental School, exams.

Ex-University of Cape Town player Martin Lindsay has still not recovered from an ankle sprained at Laconia, N.H.

Today's side will be fairly experienced, however. Fullback will be South African Pat Latham, with countrymen Charles Levine at scrum half, and John Chalsty leading the forwards at number eight.

The threequarter line will include Jim Lopez, who played both football and rugby for Yale last year, with Frenchman Olivier Brunet, and wingback Ron Eikenberry on the wings. Pete Palmer is replacing Joslin at center.

Gianelli to Play

Playing flyhalf for the second year will be Jerry Marsh, now at the Law School, the '54, Crimson quarterback. Terry Turner and Brady Williamson will be back in the first row of the scrum, with newcomer Mike Kornfield filling in for Eaton.

Tony Gianelli is making his first appearance at lock forward, combining with Stu Nickerson in the absence of Tice. Englishmen Alastair Rellie and Alex MacLeod are the wing forwards.

The Crimson should do better this afternoon if all traces of the Big Snow have disappeared. With a strong backline but a substitute-filled pack of forwards, a dry ball will give the side more chance to show its scoring potential.

The effects of a powerful threequarter line may be negated, however, if the forwards do not combine well enough to gain regular control of the ball. New York has the advantage of a shakedown game played last Saturday in two inches of snow, but the Crimson needs a few good wins to impress the boys in California.