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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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Bull Shark 3 hours ago
Rassie Erasmus' Boks selection policy is becoming bizarre

To be fair, the only thing that drives engagement on this site is over the top critiques of Southern Hemisphere teams.


Or articles about people on podcasts criticizing southern hemisphere teams.


Articles regarding the Northern Hemisphere tend to be more positive than critical. I guess to also rile up kiwis and Saffers who seem to be the majority of followers in the comments section. There seems to be a whole department dedicated to Ireland’s world ranking news.


Despite being dialled into the Northern edition - I know sweet fokall about what’s going on in France.


And even less than fokall about what’s cutting in Japan - which has a fast growing, increasingly premium League competition emerging.


And let’s not talk about the pacific. Do they even play rugby Down there.


Oh and the Americas. I’ve read more articles about a young, stargazing Welshman’s foray into NFL than I have anything related to either the north and south continents of the Americas.


I will give credit that the women’s game is getting decent airtime. But for the rest and the above; it’s just pathetic coming from a World Rugby website.


Just consider the innovation emerging in Japan with the pedigree of coaches over there.


There’s so much good we could be reading.


Instead it’s unimaginative “critical for the sake of feigning controversial”. Which is lazy, because in order to pull that off all you need to be really good at is:


1. Being a doos;

2. Having an opinion.


No prior experience needed.


Which is not journalism. That’s like all or most of us in the comments section. People like Finn (who I believe is a RP contributor).


Anyway. Hopefully it will get better. The game is growing and the interest in the game is growing. Maybe it will attract more qualified journalists over time.

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