Russian captain Vasily Artemyev has captured the hearts of Rugby World Cup fans with his bright interview and ability to forgive after his side's loss to Manu Samoa last night.
Samoa copped two yellow cards for head high tackles on their way to a 34-9 win in Kumagaya, dropping to 13 men after former Hurricanes players Rey Lee-lo and Motu Matu'u were sent off.
Russian coach Lyn Jones felt both incidents were red card-worthy but Artemyev, who was on the receiving end of both high shots, was much more forgiving.
Artemyev, who was born in Moscow but sports a distinctive Irish accent after growing up in Ireland, said it's all part of the game.
"A big call out to our Samoan brothers from the big island of Russia to the rather smaller island of Samoa," he said.
"Thank you very much for the game to our opponents."
Artemyev then thanked the crowd in Russian and waved to them which drew a huge response before stating his team came to Japan with one goal - "get respect".
"We're on the right route, the right track to achieve those goals. We've come here to show that we can play a physical game and we're proud of our game.
"We're on the right track, unfortunately we didn't use the numerical advantage we had in the first half and the Samoans were clinical in putting away their chances. It's an outstanding experience for all of the boys."
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