between the storyline and the sports scenes this movie kept me interested the whole time i personally don't play rugby or know how to but this did portray a good storyline and the scenes were very interesting. so overall this deserves a 7-10 for good ways to keep people on their edge and making me learn a small amount of rugby and the heart of the sport as a whole and changed my outlook on rugby to positive. to be honest the problems and solutions in this movie were very unpredictable and i normally can predict and ending to a movie but for this one i couldn't. they changed the storyline enough to make the ending unpredictable which will have my interest enough to have my satisfaction with the movie! great movie!

Rick Penning (Sean Faris) is a arrogant rugby star player for his demanding father-coach (Neal McDonough). Lars (Penn Badgley) is his best friend. He gets into a drunken accident. It's his 2nd DUI and his girlfriend is seriously hurt. He is sent to juvenile detention until he's 18 when he would continue his sentence in jail or paroled. Marcus Tate (Sean Astin) runs the facility. Rick is entitled, rebellious, bitter, isolated and volatile. His father is avoiding him. He teaches the other kids rugby. Marcus convinces him to join the Highland Rugby Team. Coach Larry Gelwix (Gary Cole) struggles to teach him to be a man.This is trying to be an inspirational sports redemption movie. I have never liked Sean Faris who always gives off a narcissistic entitled vibe. I figure he would be great at playing the villain but he keeps playing the misunderstood charmer. He is so great at being unlikeable that his character really annoyed the hell out of me. He does have a redemption story but even that is undermined. He gets a new leading lady in Arielle Kebbel and leaves the injured girl behind. That girl ends up saving his bacon in an important moment. Talking about that moment. What happened to the drug charges? If Rick isn't charged, wouldn't Lars get charged? Did the cops just dropped the case? WTF. Penn Badgley is also good at being a douche. Actually he would have been a much better lead in this movie because he has another gear playing sensitive.

Look I've played AFootball,Rugby,Soccer and I know Rugby has a very distinct culture unlike any other sport. If they wanted to make a movie about culture they should have, and helped people understand the culture in Rugby better. All they wanted was a feel good American film, Rugby was the side show. It is truly unfortunate because they could of helped Americans understand an unAmerican sport at the present time. Last time Rugby was in the Olympics 15's was 1924 won by the US. We have had this sport in our culture and should respect it more then how it was portrayed in the film. (IE:Haka,Rules of the sport) Good side maybe someone will have to truly see Rugby for themselves.

This movie has made me a rugby -- and Coach Larry Gelwix -- fan. The story's characters slipped and fell before they begin to grow as they struggled through incredibly strong conflicts. Those were understandable and completely believable. Like life, there were no easy answers for the problems facing them all. Superb actors and an excellent script brought this true story to life. I wish there were more movies like this one. These days, I watch almost exclusively, worthwhile true stories because they are typically far more interesting than fiction. Additionally, this one is inspirational and it teaches us to not to give up on anyone too quickly.