The Penn State men's rugby team needed a wakeup call and it got it last week when it went up against the University of Delaware.

Because of this, the Ruggers will be heading to Princeton tomorrow to play in the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union (MARFU) Championships with their eyes fully awake.

The Ruggers' opponents at the Championships are Virginia Tech, Navy and Princeton.

"It was the perfect time for a wakeup call," Penn State men's rugby coach Terry Ryland said of last week's Delaware game.

Against the Blue Hens, the Ruggers were able to pull out a 27-21 victory. But it wasn't after some sloppy ball handling between the backs and the unusual play of the forwards not dominating the rucks and mauls.

Plus the Lions committed some offside penalties they shouldn't have.

"We were playing at home for the first time," Ryland said.

"And people were trying to do too much."

The Ruggers were also playing more as individuals rather than their usual team-minded game plan.

"We would play decent defense and then there would be a breakdown," No. 8. Jason Fisher said.

That was the first time this season that when the Ruggers shoved, their opponents shoved back.

Ryland said that if there was one thing the Ruggers could learn from last week's game, it was that a sign of a good team was one that played poorly and still won.

"The good thing was we won and we played terribly," Ryland said. Because of the disappointing performance at last week's game, the Ruggers were looking forward to correcting their mistakes in practice this week.

Things didn't get off to a good start as the Ruggers had to have an indoor practice because of the ever-changing weather.

Despite this, Ryland said that the Ruggers have been focused because of the learning experience they had against Delaware.

In practice the Ruggers concentrated on being disciplined and patient in order to avoid committing offsides penalties, which was something they failed at last week. Another thing that the Ruggers observed from last week's game was that they have to be able to adapt their style of play to that of the competition.

"The level of competition is increasing," Fisher said. "And we just have to adapt to it."

Even though the team knows that this week's championships will feature a lot more competitive sides than Delaware, the Ruggers are confident that if they stay focused, they can pull things together and reach their full potential.

"We just need to play as a team," Fisher said.

"We know what we are capable of when we do that."