The past year saw several Westside Harlequins play for the Midwest XV against both national and international competition.
Territorial Tournament
At the 1981 Territorial Tournament at Oak Brook, Illinois, two Harlequins were selected to play against the other three territories.
Joe Landry and Bill Chung saw action and had hopes of making the USA squad. Joe played in one of the matches and Bill played in all three.
An injury to Bill in the second game might have denied him a chance to play for the Eagles.
Midwest All Stars v. Springboks
September brought the South African Springboks to the USA and a chance for some of the Harlequins to play against the best in the world. The match had to be held secretly in Kenosha due to planned demonstrations that no doubt would have prevented it from even being played.
Three of our members were on the Midwest All Star squad that day: Bill Chung, Joe McCook and Mike Landry. Bill and Joe were very much in the thick of things and Mike was an alternate.
Two great drop goals by Bill Chung enabled the Midwest to stay close in the first half and the score was 18–12 with 40 minutes to go. The Springboks hit their stride in the second half and won easily 46–12.
Superior fitness and support in the loose by the Springboks were the most evident factors that led to the defeat of the Midwest All Stars. Hopefully we will learn from our mistakes in the future.
Midwest v. Durban Collegians
October also found another top South African team in the Midwest — the Durban Collegians.
The Midwest XV fared better in this match, as it ended in a 3–3 tie. Bill Chung, Joe McCook and Mike Landry all saw action in that game.
I would say for the past year we have been fairly well represented at the top level of rugby in our area.
Midwest U23s
The Harlequins also had some representation on the Midwest Under 23 squad. Jeff Friedrich was selected to play on the squad and served as captain in the two matches that were played.
The Midwest Under 23 played Wisconsin RFU 2nd XV and a touring team from Ireland, Terenure RFC.
Springboks topple Midwest
Reprinted from “In Touch”.
Despite threats of disruption and chaos the long awaited match between the Midwest and South Africa’s Springboks was played in Racine, Wisconsin at 9:15 A.M. on Saturday 19 September. After a week of changing plans on a daily basis the word finally went out late in the evening on Friday 18 September. Because of the short notice the crowd was limited to several rugby people, most of whom were from Wisconsin and Illinois.
The Springbok’s 46-12 victory was an exciting contest to watch despite the final score.
Midwest flyhalf, Billy Chung put the host team in the lead with two early dropped goals. The Springboks responded with three converted tries before Jow Schettlin blocked a kick by fullback, Johan Heunis and covered it in-goal for the first and only Midwest try.
Chung converted and the score was 18-12 at the half. In the second half the South Africans added four more tries and the Midwest did not score with the final score 46-12 in favor of the Springboks. Ed Green was the referee.
Late in the second half the game was interrupted when several protesters walked onto the pitch. Several people were arrested, but there was no serious trouble. On Tuesday 22 Sept. the Boks shutout the Eastern Rugby Union 41-0 and on the following Friday the Eagles went down to defeat 38-7.
