After stumbling out of the gate at the start of the spring season, it seems as though the Penn State men's rugby team has begun to regain its footing in time for the postseason.

Despite poor weather conditions and what fullback Luke Roberts lovingly named a "mudfield," the Ruggers defeated Temple, 55-0, on Saturday in the opening round of the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union (MARFU) tournament. The win advanced Penn State into the semifinals next Saturday at the University of Maryland. The championship will be played Sunday.

The game scheduled to be played in State College, as Penn State is the higher seed in the tournament, but last week's snowstorm pushed the game to Temple's field.

The Ruggers, who struggled in their first match of the spring against Kutztown and who lost three matches in England over spring break, saw great improvement in the quarterfinal round of the MARFUs.

"It was the first time this spring that we really played as a team," Roberts said. "The forwards gave the backs great support and got the ball to the backs cleanly off of scrums. That led to the backs having a great game too."

Penn State head coach Don Ferrell also noticed the unity of the team as a whole on Saturday.

"We've been working toward making this more of a team a lot," Ferrell said. "They've spent a lot of time together over break and faced a lot of adversity together."

The playoff atmosphere helped to give the Ruggers some extra motivation.

"We knew that this was a do-or-die situation, and we played to the level it took to win it," Roberts said.

A do-or-die mentality is just what Penn State wanted to have after its week in England. The team's experiences over spring break seem to have translated to success back in the States. In Penn State's only match before the break, it played sloppily, fumbling the ball and being physically dominated in the first half against Kutztown.

Against Temple, however, the Ruggers made it clear from the get-go that this was a championship-caliber team. Roberts said the Ruggers came out ready and aggressive, putting their opponents down early.

Penn State did that by playing a physical game, which contrasted its play before it traveled to England.

"The forwards today were disruptive, a wrecking force," Ferrell said. "They were always capable of that, and today they finally put it out on the field."

Ferrell said that the team has had potential to pull off a game like it did against Temple all season, and that all it needed was one match like that to get it to the next level. Now that this goal has been met, it can focus on carrying it over to the MARFU Championships next week.

Even though they pitched a shutout and put up 55 points on Temple, however, Ferrell said that the Ruggers still have work to do. If they play the way they are capable of Ferrell said they could win the tournament.

"It's tough to see what really works and what didn't when you're playing in mud like that," Ferrell said, "but we still need to work on our set pieces and execution. We need to make sure we're prepared for MARFUs."