Rugby has the reputation of being the roughest sports in the world. Outside the British Is

les, rugby is little known and, in fact, is often confused with soccer. But in England, as old sports saying serves to point out the differences between the two games: soccer is supposedly a gentlemen's game played by ruffians, whereas rugby is a ruffian's game played by gentlemen.

The game begins with a kick-off from one end of a 100-yard field. The receiving ruggers, as a rugby team is called, attempt to move the ball down the field, the opposing team attempts to stop the man with the ball.

The rules are quite simple. You cannot tackle anyone but the man who is carrying the ball, and once the ball carrier is tackled, he must give up the ball. Obviously, a good strategy for moving the ball. downfield is to carry it as far as possible, then pass the ball before being tackled.

If the ball carder can travel the length of the field, his team is awarded four points, and another two points are won by kicking the ball over the goalpost after the score. Penalties are equally simple, tackling a player who is not carrying the ball carries a ten-yard penalty. Much of rugby's reputation for roughness stems from the fact that the players wear no pads. To Americans accustomed to seeing professional foot-ball players in suits and helmets like armor, a rugby player's uniform. seems suicidally simple. Most ruggers wear a very thick jersey, heavy gymnasium shorts, heavy socks, rugby shoes, and a mouthpiece. Ruggers use other equipment or pads only when an injury requires protection. But even with this minimal equipment, the game is apparently not as brutal as it might seem. The players are quite satisfied with the lack of padding and helmets and actually think the game might be too rough if players used more equipment. "Human nature is not to hit as hard if no one is wearing pads," one rugger explains. Rugby games are played in two halves, each lasting forty minutes. Teams always meet to play two games consecutively, back-to-back. Again, playing a demanding physical sport like rugby for more than 160 minutes seems like an impossible task, but the ruggers love this idea. "It gives everyone on the team a chance to get into the game," they say. Rugby is slowly catching on in America. The sport is gaining an enthusiastic following among college teams and in independent ruggy "unions" organized on the British model. It has all the appeal of football, but it is simpler and requires much less costly equipment. Rugby is ready to be rediscovered.

The main purpose of this passage is to ______.

A．compare English and American sports

B．compare rugby to football

C．discuss the brutality of rugby

D．provide a brief introduction to rugby