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

An animal’s journey from grief to love shows how much humans need each other, too.

Meet Harvard’s 2026 Student Commencement Speakers

Two undergraduates and a Ph.D. candidate will address the graduating class on May 28.

The former economics concentrator brings his talent for crunching numbers to netminding.

Explore More From Current Issue

A woman with long hair stands confidently with crossed arms next to a pickup truck.

In her memoir All That's Unseen, Emilee Hackney explores religion, friendship, and home.

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

Science and art capture the microscopic natural world.

Massachusetts Hall at Harvard Red brick building with a large clock on top, surrounded by green trees.

With a grade inflation vote and in the courts, the University argued that it’s taking steps to change.