It has been a long time, but the Penn State men's rugby team is basking in the spotlight of a Final Four for the first time since 2001.

That is because the No. 3 Ruggers (16-3, 9-0 MARFU) clinched a spot in the national semifinals this weekend -- their first in the last five years and ninth in school history -- with two dominating performances in the first and second rounds of the USA Rugby National Championship Tournament.

At Clinton Field, on the campus of the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., the Ruggers' arsenal proved to be too much for the competition.

On Saturday, the squad survived a rough first half and disposed of 14th-seeded California-Davis with a 34-11 victory. Yesterday, it was much of the same, as the finely tuned Penn State machine continued its winning ways and ran over 11th-seeded Dartmouth, 50-0.

The 11 points allowed by the Ruggers in the first and second rounds was second-lowest in the tournament, only one more than the 10 surrendered by BYU -- Penn State's opponent in the semifinals on May 5.

"I know it's the oldest cliché in the book, but defense wins championships," Ruggers head coach Don Ferrell said. "And if we continue to play tough defense, our chances improve and we can cause a lot of trouble for teams."

In Penn State's first-round match with UC-Davis, defense was not a problem as the squad only allowed eight in the first half. However, the offense only scored 12 in the opening frame and held on to a slim four-point advantage.

That all changed in the second half, as the Ruggers took it to the Aggies and widened the margin. The defense remained steadfast and held on for the victory against one of the scrappiest teams in the country.

"Davis is a team known for being physical and we knew what we needed to do. We did an excellent job at being physical and converting on our scoring opportunities," Ferrell said.

After Saturday's physical contest, the Ruggers returned to their hotels and promptly began preparing for the impending match with Dartmouth by taking ice baths.

"It is something we learned from the football team, it helps you recover faster," Ferrell said.

Early into the season, most would pass on the frigid swim. But with a national championship in their sights, the players are doing everything to get prepared.

"They are willing to do whatever they need to do," Ferrell said. "They are hungry and they are on a mission."

That devotion was evident in yesterday's match as the Ruggers picked up right where they left off by suffocating the Big Green's attack, scoring 33 points in the first half, and dominating both sides of the ball from beginning to end.

"Dartmouth plays off of confidence, and I told the team that we needed to take that confidence away by smacking them in the mouth," captain and inside centre Tim Ryland said. "For the first two or three minutes, we really took to them. And for the rest of the game, you could tell that they were scared."

The shutout was the fifth of the season for the squad and left no doubt that Penn State is a team to reckoned with.

"Our defense stuck to the game plan all weekend and our offense is clicking," Ryland said. "When we play like this, we can hang with anybody."