Harvard athlete plays in Oxford-Cambridge rugby match

Will Johnson ’06 tackles a different sports rivalry.

Will Johnson ’06, a six-foot-three-inch, 270-pound offensive lineman for the Harvard football team, played for Oxford in the annual Varsity Match between Oxford and Cambridge, the culmination of the rugby season for Oxford’s Dark Blues and the Light Blues of Cambridge. Johnson is enrolled in a two-year program in economic and social history at Oxford. The New York Times report quotes Oxford coach Steve Hill to the effect that “[T]he season is a success or failure based on that one day. At the end of that day, you’re either in heaven or in hell. There’s nowhere in between.” Unfortunately for Oxford, they ended up in hell: on the short end of a 31-27 tally at Twickenham on Thursday, December 11.

Most popular

At informational town hall meetings, faculty and staff press administrators for details.

Harvard Weathers a Year of Turmoil

The federal government has launched unprecedented actions against the University. Here’s a guide.

AWOL from Academics

Behind students' increasing pull toward extracurriculars

Explore More From Current Issue

Five individuals are posed in a monochrome outdoor setting near a cinderblock building, some standing, some seated.

Photographer and writer Morgan Smith chronicles life beyond the violence in Ciudad Juárez and other Mexican towns.

Label showing the anatomy of a worker bee, featuring a detailed illustration.

Science and art capture the microscopic natural world.

Singer performing on stage with a guitar, wearing a hat, and surrounded by band instruments.

Singer Elisa Smith’s whiskey-soaked voice and subversive feminism is part of the genre’s urban shift.