The volunteer coach of the Harvard rugby club, Martyn Kingston, went over the impressive statistics his ball-club has compiled this year. He was trying to understand how his team had just been eliminated from the New England Championships, forfeiting its chance at advancing to national play.

"I keep going over it in my head," Kingston said, "it's just incredible. We give up only two trys in seven games, none Saturday, and yet, we're only the third-best team in New England."

The Crimson had just been knocked out of the N.E Championships by Southern Connecticut, 3-0, Saturday in Worcester before 700 fans.

While Harvard (6-2) dominated the five-game Metro Boston Region conference and opened the first round of the N.E. Championships by blasting Springfield College, 36-0, it was eliminated when Southern Connecticut tallied a penalty kick with only five minutes remaining.

"We just gave up the wrong points at the wrong time," said Annor Ackah, the club's president, "and that's the name of the game."

The Crimson also failed to take advantage of its scoring opportunities. Harvard missed all five of the penalty kicks that it attempted.

"The kicking was a bit off," Kingston said. "That's really the story for us."

Hello, Victory

Harvard kicked off the tournament by booting Springfield College, 36-0, Saturday morning. The explosive Crimson offense featured scores by six different ruggers. Scott Helinski tallied twice. Jake Hill, Jon Greenberg, Bruce Miller and James Keller all added trys.

The 36 points represented a season-high for the Crimson which has tallied 164 points this year while yielding only 43. In New England-area play, Harvard outscored its opponents, 151-22.

"Those must be the highest figures for a losing team in the history of the league," Kingston said. "We're very disappointed. We're forfeited our chance at nationals by virtue of coming in third."

If Harvard had finished first or second in the tournament, it would have qualified for the finals and a chance to advance to national competition. The Crimson captured the national crown four years ago.

"It's tough for the team to swallow this," Kingston said. "It's tough for us to say we are the third-best team in New England when we gave up only two trys in seven games. All of this would have been much easier to accept if we had lost 20-0 instead of the way we did."