Before the playoffs, one question floats in the minds of every single team: "Are we ready?"

It is a simply phrased three-worded question that many teams believe could determine how deep they go in the playoffs.

For the Penn State men's rugby team, it will find out tomorrow at home, when in its opening round of the playoffs, it meets Delaware.

Penn State captain Kirk Neubauer said last week that the Ruggers have not been tested yet and it was hard to predict exactly how prepared they are.

Last week's tournament wasn't much help, as the Ruggers overran and dominated every single team that came their way.

In spite of this, the Ruggers are confident that they have taken the necessary precautions to at least go deep in the playoffs.

No. 8 Jason Fisher said that this week in practice, Penn State coach Terry Ryland had pointed out the flaws in the Ruggers' game in the tournament and corrected them.

"He showed us a lot of mistakes we made from last week's tournament," Fisher said.

Fisher also put a lot of emphasis on the team's final practice this week, as some key players were missing due to injury or other concerns.

Even with the omission of players such as Neubauer from practice, the Ruggers feel that they have the youngsters who can step up and perform.

But the downside could be that some of the newer players on the squad have had limited experience of playing in big games, yet there are high expectations being placed on them.

"The youngsters need to be ready to step up," Fisher said.

And they showed that they could turn it up a level during the Ruggers tour of Florida and South Carolina during Spring Break.

The final practice would also give the Ruggers the time needed for them to make sure everything is in tune.

All season long the forwards and the backs have been playing with renewed vigor and the communication between the backs has improved vastly.

"They are doing awesome in my opinion," Fisher said. "They have speed and size."

The Ruggers feel that the backs have always had those qualities, but until they improved their ball-handling skills and communication skills -- like they have done this season -- they were largely ineffective.

On the other hand, the forwards have been giving consistent performances.

They have continually won over the ball and dominated, making things easier for the backs.

Ryland said that from last week's tournament, he could see that the Ruggers had a nice balance between the forwards and the backs.

The Ruggers also feel that the new conditioning program they adopted during preseason will prove beneficial.

During the season, the Ruggers have continually reiterated that their goal is to win the National Championship.

Their first step begins tomorrow.