Think of Syria, and some think of civil war, or perhaps the four million people fleeing the country fearing for their lives. Others, though, have a different vision. Of lemon trees, jasmine, fountains... ... and rugby.

He was let go by both Sale and Wasps, and then found himself in the basement of the English second tier, but Mark Atkinson found the road to redemption began at Goldington Road, known for having a Lazarus-like impact on lost rugby souls.

The Dorchester Gladiators arrived for the tour match wearing heavily the impact of the night before, which had ended only a few hours earlier. As they stepped from the bus, they found themselves facing photographers and TV crews. On the pitch, things got worse, as they faced the 24-time Romanian champions, with every minute broadcast live on national television.

One month they could be facing the Army in front of 50,000, the next they’re facing Somali pirates armed with assault rifles in hostile waters. Their greatest honour is made from the timber of Lord Nelson’s ship, and HMS Ark Royal once ruled the rugby pitch, as it did the waves. Royal Navy rugby is never dull.

Imprisoned for drink driving; sharing a prison cell with a man who’d tried to burn down a house with his kids inside; fearing that cancer might take him, like it took his mum; former Welsh lock Andy Allen was put on suicide watch. He’d thought about it before, so much had happened, but this time it was a failed fraudster that helped save him.

Losing 148-0 is no way to start a national league rugby career, but Elaine Vassie is made of sterner stuff. A rugby career that began as the result of a crash with an Army Land Rover, has zigzagged its way upward to Dallas, Texas, where she’s now helping to shape a new frontier in American rugby.

University rugby was once considered the game of the elite, but the rise of BUCS rugby has changed the face of the sport. At a time of instability within the professional game, our educational institutions could provide an answer.

Sunday 2nd September, 2001.  The SkyRack was bouncing. Phil Davies was bouncing, dual-international Steve Bachop was bouncing, young Tom Palmer was bouncing, the whole place was bouncing… ... this was a night like no other for professional rugby union in the city of Leeds. Once-mighty Bath had been beaten, 10-6, by the upstarts from Headingley and the city was in celebration mode. There’s only one way rugby in Yorkshire is going from here…

They arrived from Spain, America, Holland, France, Japan, Canada, some just in time for kick off. But with a core of local talent, Exeter Chiefs somehow managed to beat the very best in the  Allianz Premier 15s.

She was a pioneer in the Welsh game. A fully professional, female coach of a national side. Rachel Taylor started the job in November but left the following March. A career with Wales that spanned three World Cups shouldn’t have ended like this. And it won’t. Not if the North Walian backrower has her way.

Mark Bingham rang his mum from United Airlines Flight 93. She was a flight attendant and insisted he sit down and not get noticed but, together with other passengers, that wasn’t going to happen. “He was six foot five, he played rugby. He was never going to sit down.”

For his first fourteen years, hospital was a second home for Ayaz Bhuta. Some people, even relatives, said he wasn’t ‘normal’. They were right. Becoming world champion isn’t something ‘normal’ people do. This is the ‘Jonah Lomu of wheelchair rugby’ we’re talking about, a man so special he never has to pay for fried chicken again.

Stafford, Staffordshire. Seemingly unremarkable, with a ‘favourite son’ that penned the seminal works on fishing and another finding fame with Boon and Bob the Builder. It’s had its moments of excitement too, with Viking invasions and civil wars and was branded ‘Little London’ by James I. Now, it has a somewhat lesser-known, but still loved, favourite son back in the fold: Aly Muldowney.

On a cluster of Caribbean islands off the coast of Venezuela, the first roots of rugby union are beginning to emerge in a country famed for its spice. With the nation’s strongest man in the line-up, Grenada have made a quiet entrance into the world of rugby.

To some Tonga is seen only as an island paradise. To others, it’s a country caught up in a global drugs trade, with an economy that relies on overseas relatives, and is being forced to accept a growing influx of convicted criminals. To put it another way, losing a rugby match 102-0 to the All Blacks is the least of its worries.

“In Islamic society, people normally think of ladies in general as having to stay at home and take care of their families, so whenever men see women playing these sports, they are afraid to see us as fearless.”

They had fixtures against rugby’s elite, including the All Blacks. They produced players for England and even had the tenacity to have a level playing field. Albion, a side made up of dockyard workers in the city of Plymouth, never knew their place. And they still don’t.

At a tournament funded by a company with a $2.43 trillion market cap, rugby was showcased to a crowd of 6,000 in Saudi Arabia. They’ve also relaunched their rugby federation and put a sevens side into the Arab Games for the first time. In a country that divides opinion, so often going big on the sporting front, rugby is quietly taking some small steps in development.

As he addressed the RFU Board for the final time, Geoff Irvine stated, ‘the illegitimate child (the Championship) that was fathered by the RFU is being sent to the orphanage!’. It fell on deaf ears. In two decades at the frontier of English rugby’s top two divisions he’d witnessed fist fights in board rooms, accusations and conspiracy, as the egos of rich men fought for supremacy. But this was the final straw.