Sport: Yank at Oxford

The new Yank at Oxford seemed a likely sort. No sooner had he arrived this fall than he began to fit himself into the black-gowned atmosphere, pedaling a bicycle to appointments with his tutors (philosophy, politics, economics), developing a taste for sherry and ale, acquiring a tea service for the social amenities. Best of all, he had a yen to play rugby. After all, he had been good at games back in the U.S., and he stood a lean, big-boned 6 ft. 1½ in., 205 Ibs. The rugby prospect: Rhodes Scholar and Infantry Lieut. Pete Dawkins, 21, No. 10 man in his class at West Point (1959), first captain of cadets, baritone in the cadet choir, captain of the undefeated football team, and All-America halfback.

Dawkins soon found that U.S. football and rugby are as different as chalk and cheese. Rugger players wear no padding, kick on the run, cannot block downfield or throw a forward pass. When a back is tackled, he must release the ball so it can be put back in play by the nearest man. Playing for Brasenose College before a handful of fans scattered through bare wooden stands, Dawkins at first pulled a tyro’s gaffes. He kept up a steady stream of American-style pepper talk until he learned that tradition allows only the captain to chatter encouragement. On defense, his jarring, head-on football tackles flattened any opposing player he seemed to suspect of having the ball, having had it, or about to get it, but he let the play get away time and again. Sniffed the Oxford Mail: “The subtleties of positioning have escaped him so far. His tackling was far from classic.”

Still, Dawkins could pass the stubby rugby ball laterally with an accuracy that amazed the experts, and when he set out for the goal line on a “try” (good for three points), he simply ran powerfully over or around anyone who got in his way. Critics cautiously pronounced his “swerve” deceptive, his “jinking” promising.

After only four games for Brasenose, Dawkins had developed enough to draw an occasional and modulated “Well done, Peter,” from fellow players, was promoted to the Greyhounds, Oxford’s second team, and started against Sandhurst, Britain’s West Point. Playing right-wing three-quarter back, Dawkins scored the first try for his team by neatly sidestepping five desperate tackles, ended the game with six of the Greyhounds’ points in their 29-3 triumph.

Last week Dawkins was promoted to Oxford’s first team to play against Blackheath, one of Britain’s top teams. Treating Blackheath as though it were Navy, Dawkins crashed home on two tries in Oxford’s 36-0 victory. Hoisting a friendly pint of stout with his opponents after the game (“Something we unfortunately don’t have in American football”), Dawkins had no illusions that he had yet nailed down a berth on the Oxford team that will play Cambridge. Said he modestly: “I am just getting past the stage where I’m getting used to the rules.”