Though OC rugby may be best known for their contributions to the 1920 and 1924 Olympic gold-medal teams, two of the main reasons the Club has remained a force in American rugby are the 1966 and 1967 rugby teams. In 1966, the Club, which mainly played regional matches, received an invitation to compete in the first international rugby tournament in Boston. Two Boston teams would represent the East Coast and the OC would represent the Pacific Coast, competing against perennial European powerhouses the Racing Club of France and England’s Rosslyn Park. The Club won the tournament, first taking down the Boston Rugby Football Club (12-0), and then beating the Racing Club (11-3), which had earlier defeated Rosslyn Park.
Having proven they could play at an international level, a year later, the OC team flew to Dublin for a 30-day goodwill tour, with a schedule chock full of social events, tourist activities, and after-game parties… as well as 11 games of worldclass rugby. The team played four games in the first seven days, ending the week 2-2. In Ireland, they beat Old Belvedere 14-6, but lost to the University College of Dublin 0-14. They then split the Welsh games, first beating the Glamorgan Wanderers 11-6 before losing to the Old Whitgiftians 14-19. The OC ruggers would not lose another game.
In England, the Club won all their matches, beating the Martlets 22-8, Cambridge University 17-3, Combined London Old Boys 22-8, before besting the team they had not played in Boston, Rosslyn Park, 11-0. The team then flew to France, where they defeated the Racing Club again, 16-9, and concluded the tour with two ties: 13-13 against Paris XV and 3-3 in a rain-shortened match against the Paris University Club.
They flew back to California, secure in the knowledge that they had represented American rugby at its finest, paving the way for reciprocal tours of first-class European sides to America that continue on today. Though the OC squad was unconventional, featuring a mix of football with skilled international position players, they showed the Europeans a style of rugby for which they were unprepared, featuring bone-crunching tackles and “torpedo” passes. The in-your-face defense wore down their competitors, providing late game scoring opportunities. The OC teams changed the face of rugby, in America and Europe.
