The 2023 Rugby World Cup

By R. Thomas

Hosted once every four years, the rugby world cup is a prized tournament, and is known as rugby's centerpiece event. It is held over the course of seven weeks and is the 3rd largest sports event in the world. This year it took place in France from the 8th of September to the 28th of October and transpired in nine venues across the country. 20 unbelievably talented teams took part, and battled viscously to be the cherished champion, who received an astonishing 400,000 dollars along with a breathtaking 4.5 kg trophy!

As for this year, an extremely disputed final took place. The crowd favorite the All Blacks from New Zealand, met the Springboks from South Africa. After some amazing points, the winner was unexpectedly the Springboks, however with much drama and tension between both teams. During the game, the New Zealand captain called Sam Cane, got titled the first player to be sent off in the rugby world cup, due to a high tackle on Jesse Kriel. You see, in rugby, any tackle above the waist is strictly forbidden, and as mentioned in the world rugby rules "forcing players to tackle lower may reduce the risk of head injuries to both the tackler and tackled player,".  After losing one of the best players in the All-Blacks team for the rest of the game, their action of "turning the tables" was unfortunately a failure, as the final score was 11-12.
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Now, in my opinion apart from the incident itself, what matters is how the player reacts to it. Sam Cane had an exemplary response, after receiving the unfortunate news of the red card, instead of arguing with the referee or having a much dramatic approach to this, instead, he closed his eyes and rocked back into his chair. Reports show that later he is quoted as saying; “this is just something I am going to have to live with.”, a much mature and educated comment. In addition, Rugby is a sport that values sportsmanship above many things, and is even described as being, "the foundation upon which rugby union is built". Therefore, the captain's response was not only an example for the rest of the world, but also a particular case that demonstrates the core values of the sport.