Canadian lock Josh Larsen in a spirit of true sportsmanship and act of pure class visited the South African Rugby Team dressing room to apologise for a tackle that led to his expulsion in a Pool B Rugby World Cup match in Kobe, Japan.
14-man Canada suffered a 66-7 thumping at the hands of the Springboks.
This made the apology much more sincere to be classified to be in true sportsmanship as Canada were eliminated from the tournament despite have one more game to play.
The Springboks who completed their group matches in this tie march on as they qualified for the quarter-finals.
Larson, who was a first half replacement for team-mate Kyle Baillie, was given his marching orders by English referee Luke Pearce in the closing stages of the first stanza for entering a shoulder charge which connected with the neck of an unsuspecting Thomas du Toit.
Larsen saw red after a TMO review, on the Bok try-line as he looked to clear out the South Africa prop Du Toit.
To his credit, Larsen now earning global acclaim visited the Springboks post-Test to extend his apologies to Du Toit as well as wish the Boks all the best for the remainder of the tournament in a true spirit of rarely unmatched sportsmanship.
The Springboks straight out from a racism storm took to Twitter to commend the efforts of Larsen highlighting of the unity embedded in the game in victory and defeat and ended the tweet with a hashtag #StrongerTogether .
South Africa who now enjoy an incredible 12 days of rest before their next quarter-final match in Tokyo on Sunday October 20 -will face either Japan, Ireland or Scotland as the tournament now enter the winner take all knockout stages.
By Gerald Dandah
