NEW HAVEN, Conn.--In one of its sloppier efforts, the Harvard rugby team closed out its 9-1 fall season Saturday by overwhelming Yale, 17-6.

Swirling winds and chilly conditions resulted in numerous handling errors. Passes tended to float, and cold hands fumbled the ball often.

As a result, there were an unusually low number of well-executed back movements for a Crimson game.

Impotence

"The back line was kind of impotent offensively," fullback John Dorgan said afterwards.

Harvard's superiority in the forwards more than compensated for the backs' miscues. "We were low and we drove a bit harder," captain of the forwards AI Halliday said.

The Crimson also dominated the lineouts with Tom Sitkorsky spearheading the Harvard effort.

Lineout

On a lineout five yards from the Yale line, the Bulldogs capped the ball back into their goal. Halliday burst through behind the ball and scored Harvard's second try to give the Crimson an 8-3 advantage.

The Crimson had scored earlier when Keith Watling pressed the ball in the right corner of Yale's goal to cap a movement which started at a scrum 15 yards out from the Bulldog line.

The Crimson backs committed several offside penalties, and Yale capitalized on two of them, scoring six points to draw within two at the half.

Warm Cockles

As legs got warmer, though, Harvard's kicking game improved. The Crimson controlled most of the second-half play.

Inside center Charlie Bott scored and easy three points after a Dorgan up-and-under set up a Harvard penalty kick just out from the Eli posts.

Bott booted six more Crimson points: a drop goal from 20 yards and a penalty kick from 30.