For Justin Hundley, it was a tough decision: To play his senior year with the Penn State men's rugby team, or to spend it flying around the world representing the United States in numerous tournaments.

"It would've been nice to play out my senior year," Hundley said, "but this experience was worth it."

The Ruggers' star flyhalf recently returned from playing in a tournament in New Zealand with the USA Rugby National Sevens Team. The tournament consisted of 16 teams from across the globe.

"It was the fiercest level of play I've ever been a part of," Hundley said. "It was so much fun to not only play, but also to watch the others out there. It was just amazing."

Hundley's trip began with a weeklong training camp in San Diego, where the players went through fitness testing and scrimmages in order to test their skills. Only 12 players traveled to New Zealand.

"There are so many great players out there that you never know who'll be on the team," Hundley said.

Sevens play is significantly different from the regular game of fifteens, which the Ruggers play at Penn State. Instead of the traditional 15 players on the field at one time, only seven are on each squad. This makes for a more finesse, faster-paced game than the brutally physical fifteens style of play. Sevens matches consist of seven-minute halves as opposed to the 40-minute halves of a fifteens game, with only two minutes at halftime.

This was Hundley's first experience on an international sevens team, but his admission to the squad was not surprising to his teammates at Penn State.

"He's been highly involved in trying to get in for the past three years," All-America flanker Auggie Manelick said. "He's built for the sevens game. He's got the right body type, the right style of play."

Penn State's head coach Don Ferrell knew that Hundley would be something special for some time. Ferrell first met Hundley at a USA Rugby skills camp when Hundley was 14.

"He was an outstanding young player then, and he still is," Ferrell said.

Ferrell and Hundley have both been involved in several national rugby tournaments, but Hundley had never played in an international competition. After the long flight to Wellington, New Zealand, he began to learn a lot about the international experience off the field.

"The atmosphere of the place was just amazing," he said. "[The players] were treated so great. The hotels were awesome, and all the teams ate in the same room, so we got to talk with all the other players."

On the field, the atmosphere was, as Hundley called it, "low key, but intense."

"They put us through two-a-days, and leading up to the matches on the weekend, we scrimmaged against New Zealand and Canada to keep us loose," he said.

The team did not get to do a lot of "touristy stuff," such as sightseeing or walking through the city, because of its practice schedule. Hundley did not mind, however, since there was a parade for the players through the streets of Wellington.

After a week and a half of training, travel and preparation, the weekend and the tournament finally began. Westpac Stadium, home of the rugby Super League Hurricanes, hosted the games, adding to the excitement.

"Not too many people were there on the first day," Hundley said, "but at some point later on, 29,000 people were there for the games. They weren't just there for the individual sevens teams; they were cheering for good rugby."

Friday consisted of pool play, where each team played the three others in its group. After that, the team's schedule depended on how it fared on the first day.

One of the squads that the United States played was Fiji, one of the top sevens teams in the world.

"It was really great experiencing that level of play and speed," Hundley said.

The United States team finished 0-6 in the tournament. Though the team did not fare well, Hundley said that he saw great improvement in the team and in himself as the week progressed.

Even after playing with and against some of the world's best rugby players, Hundley is excited about returning to play with his teammates at Penn State.

"That's the nice thing about Penn State; there's not really much of a drop-off in talent," Hundley said.

He will continue to play in international tournaments throughout the year and thus will not be able to participate in many of the team's upcoming matches. However, Hundley expects to play with the Ruggers in their first round match of the national tournament on April 20.

The USA Sevens team meets again on March 17 to try out for the squad that will fly to Hong Kong to participate in one of the largest sevens tournaments in the world. He will have to complete another week of tryouts in order to qualify for the Hong Kong squad. Hundley expects more of himself now that he has some international experience and expects to be on that team as well, although, he said, one can never be sure.

"The competition gets stronger each time, but I come back better and stronger too," he said. "It's a whole new tryout."