No, nothing about women playing, but it is not every day that there is an article in the NYT about rugby, especially one whose title starts out with “Fierce Sport from Brittan”.

DAMASCUS, Syria — A former top heavyweight boxer from Syria was not the first person to fall in love with rugby’s raw brutality. But he was one of the first Syrians to do so.

The boxer, Samer Tabbab, joined a motley group of diplomats and other expatriates for his first game three years ago and promptly discovered his new passion. “It’s a battle, just without any weapons,” he said with glee just before a recent nighttime practice.

Renowned for its exhausting nonstop play and rough, often bloody, full contact (players wear no pads or helmets), rugby tapped into a deep well of Syrian Arab pride.

“Fierce sport” “raw brutality” “often bloody”. Sounds about right to me. However, I will note that increasingly players do wear soft pads on their shoulders and on their head. Nothing like football, but a bit to reduce injury. Rugby still has a lower rate of injury than football. Blood is common enough that there is a rule where you get 10 minutes to stop it up and get back in the game and not officially be subbed out, just a “blood sub” who goes in for you while you are bleeding.

“Rugby appeals to Syrian youth because while the game is played, it changes into a kind of battle, with hitting and holding,” Mr. Jarkou said. “Then a few moments after the game, enemies become friends again.”

Now that is universal and one of my favorite things about rugby. A hooligans sport played by gentleman, as the saying go. No matter what happens during the game, you shake hands and party with the other team after it is done. Though I doubt that the beer flows quite so much in Islamic countries.