The Penn State women's rugby team faced plenty of tough competition on its England tour over spring break, but none more intense than the encounter with Loughborough University.

The No. 2-ranked collegiate team in the United Kingdom trounced the Lady Ruggers in their match. The Lady Ruggers, however said that the big-match experience proved more important than the final score.

"We experienced a whole new level of rugby and hope to take what we learned and apply it to our game here in the States," Penn State's Shelley White said.

The Lady Ruggers will have the chance to apply that experience to live-game action when they open the spring season in the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union (MARFU) quarterfinals at 1 p.m. tomorrow against Virginia Tech.

The game is supposed to be played on the West Campus Pitch, located across Atherton Street from Rec Hall, but poor field conditions may move the game to State College High School's field.

The match is very important for the Lady Ruggers in their defense of last season's national championship. A victory tomorrow would advance Penn State to the MARFU semifinals on April 2 in Princeton.

The Lady Ruggers are also excited about playing their first game of the spring season at home.

"This weekend's game is extremely important, not only because it will get us one step closer to Nationals, but because it will be our first real match on American soil," White said.

While in England, the Lady Ruggers had the opportunity to work with several different coaches who taught their forwards new binding techniques for scrums and showed the backs a new defense.

Beside their newly learned techniques, the Lady Ruggers have worked to sharpen their lineouts and back plays to improve their attack. They also have been roughing the cold and sloppy weather outdoors to practice in order to get a sense of the game-like conditions.

The Lady Ruggers will look now to put the entire package to work tomorrow to compliment their already deeply talented squad.

"Hopefully we can exploit our depth and show that we are national championship material," White said.