Scores of them, ranging in age from 50 to 77, met on their old familiar Taiwan University rugby ground for a seven-a-side Sunday.

Never mind the score. All Taita old boys wanted is to rejuvenate themselves. They did and enjoyed the play of two three- minute halves. The oldest Taita rugger, Joe Hung, kicked off for the game, watched by an 85-year-old Taiwan University Buffalo. Kuo Ping-tsai, a retired architect, did not referee the game, however.

Kuo studied at Taihoku Imperial University, which changed its name to Taiwan University after the island was restored to the Republic of China. Those old boys, including former Taipei Medical University president Chiang Wan-hsuan and Academia Sinica member Lo Tung-pi, played as the Buffalos.

Hung, former Taipei representative in Italy, is one of the founding members of the Taiwan University Rugby Team in 1953. The side won the seventh national rugby championships in that year, setting the proud rugby tradition of Taiwan's most prestigious university.

Over the years, the Taiwan University side has won many national trophies, twice winning three championships in a row. Among the best playing old ruggers were Tsai Hsun-hsiung, chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development; Dr. Liao Yi- chiu, father of Taiwan's Tiger prawn and a member of the Acadmia Sinica; and Su Tseng-chang, a former premier.

“We may be old,” Kuo said. “But we won't fade away,” he pointed out.

Looking a healthy octogenarian, the retired architect who wears a second dan judo black belt said a good rugby player “needs a clear-thinking head,” a reverse of “mense sana in corpore sano or a sound mind in a sound body.” Dr. Chien Shih-liang, president of Taiwan University, said more than 50 years ago a rugger isn't an ape. “He makes a decision to play the ball right in a split second; it requires wisdom,” he went on. A side that makes more right decisions wins.

His successor close to half a century later is Dr. Lee Si- chen, a rugby fan. The incumbent president of Taiwan University witnessed the election of a new head of Taita's old boy club and the takeover before the seven-a-side.

Chang Pan-yen took over from Chen Wu-hsiung, president of the Chinese National Federation of Industries.

Lee said at the takeover ceremony he wished the Taiwan University Rugby Promotion Association Chang heads will help make the Taita side one of the world's top 50 college teams in the years to come.