If the shoe fits, wear it.

If it falls off in the middle of a rugby match, quickly pick it up and throw it off the field into the crowd.

This happened twice to Timmy Ryland in the Penn State men's rugby team's 45-0 win against Trent University of Ontario on Sunday in Holuba Hall.

Ryland, the Ruggers captain, continued playing with one shoe on and really didn't see being shoeless as a disadvantage.

"I honestly did not even know it happened," Ryland said. "I waited 'til the game stopped so I could put it back on."

After putting his shoe back on, Ryland quickly scored a 5-point try to give his a team a 20-0 lead at the time.

That's how easy it seemed to be for the Ruggers, as they dominated Trent the whole game.

"The execution in our set pieces and line outs were really good," Ryland said. "We had great communication, and overall we played a great game."

With the score 5-0, Penn State coach Don Ferrell yelled out to his team, "Let's go, discipline, keep the pressure on."

The Ruggers took it to heart and quickly scored two tries to gain a 15-0 lead.

Fullback Mike Petri scored one of those tries, but then went down with an injury to his arm. He was replaced by senior Dom Mara, who scored later in the match.

"Our team has been known to be dominated by our backs," Ryland said. "But our forwards really stepped up their play."

Junior Mike Sell scored on a try from the wing position.

In a pep talk, one Trent player said that all the team had to do was "just catch the ball."

The Ruggers seemed to make it their goal to get to every ball, which contributed to the shutout.

"We played a good, strong Canadian team," Ryland said. "Overall, it was a great first game back, but we still have things to work on."

Ryland mentioned fitness and patience as two areas of focus the team needed to keep its No. 5 ranking.

Army, Navy and Air Force, all ranked higher than Penn State, are three of the most fit teams in the country because of their training.

"We need to keep playing and practicing at 100 percent," Ryland said. "This was still only our first game of the season, so from here we go just have to back to practice."

The team practices three times a week, with conditioning on off days so the fitness will come.

The Ruggers' next match is home on March 5 against No. 2 Army.

For that game, Ryland may have to double-knot his shoes for the team to win.