University Park, PA – This Saturday Penn State Men's Rugby will take the long journey to Clemson, SC to take on Clemson at 11:00am ET Saturday, 9 September in the opening match of the 2023 Fall Campaign.
After a very competitive Run-On trial period, Penn State Men's Rugby added 17 players to the returning 24, rounding out a strong squad for this upcoming season. This weekends pre-season friendly will be a great opportunity for the entire squad to get some time in a match, as the team prepares for the opening Rugby East match at Army, 16 September.
Clemson are coming off a strong performance over Citadel on 29 August, so we expect a strong challenge, with them having one match under their belt leading into the contest.
The team has been training hard, with new strength coaches joining our team this year there has been an added emphasis on both the strength and conditioning, working to improve our robustness over the course of the season. The impressive work that had been done in the off-season is paying off and as a team, recorded some of our best scores in the pre-season testing.
The strength and conditioning, coupled with a strong emphasis on skills and game management is sure to set the team up well to be successful. Several players spent time this summer playing sevens, and we are certainly reaping the rewards of that effort. Dalton Musselman (NAV 7's National Champion) and Nick Masterson (Mystic River) both competed at the National Sevens Championship, which exposed them to some of the strongest rugby in the country. They have done an excellent job bringing that experience and knowledge back to the team.
This first hit out is an opportunity to try some new combinations and take some risks before the team starts Rugby East play. Clemson are a well-coached team and will stress us in certain areas, how we react to this stress will be important moving forward.
The match will be streamed live on the Veo Live App, tune to support your Nittany Lions this Saturday.
