Forget the game last week against the University of Pennsylvania. That was a warm-up.

The real test for the Penn State men's rugby team begins when it goes up against Ohio State at 5 p.m. tomorrow in Columbus.

Last year Ohio State lost to eventual National Champion California in the National Quarterfinals.

Last week against a disjointed Penn side, the Ruggers came out with an easy a 91-7 victory.

They don't expect to get the same result against Ohio State. The Ruggers will be expecting a much more physical game and a closer score.

"The biggest thing that we have been working on is that we are set in the scrums as Ohio [State] are really strong in the scrum," Penn State men's rugby coach Terry Ryland said.

At 2-0 on the season, the Ruggers hope that one advantage they will have is confidence, something they lacked last season, especially in close games.

"Last year, if we would have played with confidence we would have played better," Ryland said.

"It was our youth that let us down."

Another factor that contributed to the Ruggers' failure last season was their lack of patience.

They could not keep a drive going by recycling the ball in order to open a hole in their opponent's defense.

"I think that sometimes we try to do a little too much," winger Sean Umpstead said.

"We are not patient enough."

Throughout this season, one thing that the Ruggers have been working on is being generally more aggressive in games.

Against Penn, they showed that they had improved in being more aggressive on defense.

But on offense, there was still some work to be done.

Ryland said that he plans to open up the game against Ohio State, so that the Ruggers' forwards could take on the Ohio State backs.

This goes with the strategy the Ruggers have been using all season, where they plan to spread the game out and wear down their physically bigger opponents.

Things are looking positive for the Ruggers as the team is jelling well together.

With each game, they have been playing more like a cohesive unit.

But the Ruggers will have to be careful not to follow their old habits by getting off to a slow start against Ohio State.

Getting off to a quick start would give Penn State the chance to set the tempo of the game.

Last week, the Ruggers were able to overcome the early pressure by Penn but against Ohio State, conceding some early points could be the difference at the end of the game.

"We need to do what we did when we played the Barbarians," Ryland said.

"That's why we plan to arrive two and a half hours before the start of the game."