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Canadian Larsen showed class with red card apology in Springboks' dressing room

Canada's Josh Larsen is shown the red card by referee Luke Pearce in Kobe (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Canada lock Josh Larsen can have no complaints about the red card he received against South Africa on Tuesday, but he showed nothing but class after the dismissal. 

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Having come on as a substitute early in the game, he did not last long on the pitch before a shoulder charge to the head of prop Thomas du Toit at a ruck. 

This was illegal, but it was not necessarily malicious. The former Otago lock claimed he tried to wrap his arms around and du Toit was already in a low body position, but that is no excuse for what was reckless and dangerous. 

Larsen was clearly crestfallen as he left the field, as he left the already struggling Canada in a precarious position. 

However, he deserves a huge amount of respect for apologising to South Africa “face to face” in the changing room after the game and wishing them “all the best for the rest of the tournament”. 

The apology was warmly received by the Springboks, who ran out 66-7 winners. This shows that although the game may be marred by incidents like these, there are other values that rugby possesses that supersede these damaging incidents. This was Larsen’s apology: 

Larsen received the sixth red card of the World Cup so far, which was already a record for any tournament, as World Rugby has shown a stringent approach to any contact to the head. 

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The Canadian clearly made a mistake, but it is his reaction to it which reveals more character than any foul play on the pitch. 

WATCH: RugbyPass gets the fans’ reaction in Kobe after the Springboks beat Canada

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NB 45 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Nice bit if revisioniusm but that's all it is JW.


For your further education, I found the following breakdown of one prominent club's finances in the Top 14 [Clermont].


For Clermont (budget of €29.5 million for 2021-2022) :

- 20% from ticket sales

- 17% from the LNR (includes TV Rights, compensation from producing french internationals and other minor stuff)

- 5% from public collectivities (so you're looking at funds from the city of Clermont, the department of Puy-De-Dôme and the region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes)

- 4% from merchandising and events

- 3% from miscellaneous

- 51 % from sponsorships and partnerships. They've got 550 different partners. The main ones are CGI, Groupama, Limagrain/Jacquet, Omerin, Paprec, Renault and of course Michelin (not surprising since they're actually the founders of the club).


As you can see nothing comes from the FFR at all. The LNR is a separate entitiy to FFR and their aims frequently do not accord.


It is also why the European breakaway plotted by LNR and PR back in 2013 had nothing to do with the governing bodies of either England or France - and it most certainly did not have their blessing https://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/story/_/id/15331030/jean-pierre-lux-anglo-french-cup-detrimental-european-rugby


And from the horse's mouth [ex AB skipper Sean Fitapatrick] about the comp between Top 14 and Super Rugby:


"The Top 14 in France is probably the best rugby competition in the world at the moment, purely for the week-in, week-out.”


“I think the quality of players. They are bigger, they are faster, they are stronger. Which then carries on into the international game.”

Take it from someone who knows JW😅

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