After crushing the Towson University Tigers last weekend, the Penn State men's rugby team will be facing off against the intrastate rival the Indiana University of Pennsylvania at 6 p.m. today at east campus fields and it's hoping for a repeat performance.

To prepare, the Ruggers have being working on the fundamentals of the forward position, since the forwards play has not been up to par so far this season.

"The big thing that we worked on was our rucking and mauling," Ruggers back coach Terry Ryland said. "... We need to improve our overall play."

But the forwards made some strides last week by showing that they could be get to breakdowns on time and be effective in the open field, when they scored and setup tries against the Tigers.

The Ruggers plan on attacking IUP with their speed and conditioning, something that they have used successfully this season against past opponents. The backs will be counted on to snap holes in IUP's backfield.

"What has happened is that after the first 25 minutes, people realize that they can't keep up with our backs, so they try to starve our backs of the ball," Ryland said.

The game also presents an opportunity for the Ruggers use the young players on the bench to improve their depth as they are preparing for spring. They also did this last week against the Tigers, when only two starters in the backline played and most of the forwards skipped the second half.

"We played a lot of young people (against Towson) to develop our depth," Ruggers captain Tim Ryland said.

Consequently, the Ruggers are rejuvenated and ready to go. Something the Ruggers were a little concerned about was their defense and they also focused on that during this week's practice.

So far this semester, the coaches have been satisfied with the Ruggers play and feel that they are ahead of schedule.

"Our goal is to get better after every match," Ruggers head coach Don Ferrell said.

IUP will be hoping to avenge the losses of the past season, while the Ruggers plan on showing that their depth is one of their strengths.