There’s no crying in rugby. At least, that seems to be the mantra of stern, proud, and punchy coach Richard Penning (Neal McDonough). When he loses, he doesn’t shake his opponents’ hands. When his team is floundering, he sends in his son, Rick (Sean Faris), to make a dirty hit. In fact, he has such a distaste for losing that when Rick is arrested for driving drunk after a crash that almost kills his girlfriend, Richard essentially disowns him.

As much a story about fatherhood and masculinity as it is a gritty introduction to the sport of rugby, Ryan Little’s “Forever Strong,” which opens in the city Friday, does its best imitation of such recent testosterone thrillers as the ultimate-fighting film “Never Back Down” and the fuel-injected motorcycle melodrama “Torque.” All three titles seem to be part of a new wave of macho fare, but each spends about as much time preaching against anger and violence as it does focusing on immature heroes coping with major teenage angst.

The troubled youth in “Forever Strong” is Rick, a wily young man who hits on every girl in sight (it helps that he looks like Tom Cruise) and whose first reaction when challenged by his peers is to dismiss and disarm. After earning the disdain of a judge following his drunken-driving episode, Rick is sent away to a juvenile detention center, where he is welcomed by manager and headmaster Marcus (Sean Astin). A rugby fan himself, Marcus tells Rick that he’ll have to find a way to control his anger and respect those around him. In the next scene, Rick is welcomed to his new home by a pair of teenagers who make jokes at his expense. He grabs one by the collar, throws both of them down, and starts pummeling.

Something within Rick has snapped — or perhaps has never fully formed — and when Marcus asks local coach Larry Gelwix (Gary Cole) to put Rick on his school’s rugby team as something of a charity case, Rick is surprised to find an environment that never existed with his father. Rugby, as it turns out, was not the trigger for his anger — it was his lame teammates and friends. Larry keeps Rick so busy that his pent-up anger begins to evaporate, and his new friends are comforting and supportive. When Gelwix singles out Rick as a team captain and congratulates him with a hug, we witness a moment of paternal affection for which Rick has clearly been yearning.

“Forever Strong” looks great, thanks chiefly to cinematographer T.J. Christensen, who bathes the chaotic rugby matches in earthy hues and paints Rick’s correctional facility in a turquoise color scheme that seems both confining and protective. For his part, Mr. Faris does the best he can with the thin script he’s given, making Rick’s emotional evolution into something explosive; each tear and cheer is indicative of a 17-year-old crawling through a long-delayed process of self-discovery. The story may be derivative, and the situations so extreme that one could follow the proceedings with the sound turned off, but Rick’s emotional awakening gives the second half of the film something substantive to cling to. For those viewers young enough to identify with Rick’s insecurities — or those who have not seen enough sports movies to realize how transparent this one is — “Forever Strong” offers some food for thought.

ssnyder@nysun.com