"There really hasn't been anything like this--ever--in Boston."

Halley's Comet? The Head of the Charles? A Red Sox World Series Championship?

Nope. That's how Harvard rugby club treasurer Joe Kenary describes this weekend's New England Rugby Championships.

Sixteen rugby squads will descend on Cambridge this weekend to participate in the two-day extravaganza at Soldiers Field, which will feature some of the top teams in the East--among them Dartmouth, Southern Connecticut, Brown and Babson.

The top two teams in the region automatically receive bids to national tournament play in the spring. Harvard--third in the league this fall, and entering the weekend in the loser's bracket--will be struggling for a wild-card berth.

To succeed, the Crimson will have to triumph in its initial consolation game, and then win its remaining four to five contests.

The tournament--the largest to hit the Boston area in the past five years--will run both Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with free food and drink provided for all spectators and participants.