This past Saturday, on a dusty playing field, the Penn State men's rugby team left the University of Pennsylvania lying in the dust with a decisive 91-7 win.

Although the win was good for the Ruggers, it came against a Penn side that was disjointed and as a result, never showed itself capable of threatening Penn State throughout the game.

By halftime, the score was 41-7 in favor of the Ruggers, and by the second half, most of the reserves were in.

"The win was good," Penn State men's rugby coach Terry Ryland said, "but we expected it against this caliber of team."

Man-of-the-match was winger Shawn Umpstead, who scored three tries.

The last try of the Ruggers was scored on a sensational run by winger Josh Colegrove, who zipped between a few Penn players before diving in for a try.

Good performances also came from forward Brent Ilgen, who at halftime switched positions from second row to eighth man, which did not affect his play.

Flyhalf Dominic Mara showed that one thing the Ruggers don't have to worry about is their kicking game.

Other positives for the Ruggers were that they showed the ability to continuously recycle the ball and keep a drive going by doing things such as offloading the ball in the tackle.

"I think that our ball handling with the backs was there," Ryland said. "They have the potential to be the best backline we have ever had."

Support at breakdowns, which was something the Ruggers had been working on in practice, was a notch higher than it was against the Barbarians club two weeks ago.

"The biggest improvement from last week was the support from behind the players," captain Jason Fisher said.

He added that because of this, the team was able to move the ball down the field in the tackle situations.

Although the team played without prop Michael Mcgeachy and second row Tim Fuhrmeister, their replacements showed that the Ruggers have plenty of depth to work with.

Team manager Fraser Grigor called this game the Ruggers' "first real game of the season," and because of this they don't plan to dwell too long on it.

"We are only as good as the next player and the next game," Ryland said. "What we need to do is enjoy it and get ready for the next game."