'True values': Canadian rugby team helps clean up after Typhoon Hagibis
KAMAISHA, Japan - An incredible act of kindness by professional rugby players from Canada is being commended in the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis.
The Canada national rugby union team's game against Namibia was canceled six hours before they were set to face-off due to Typhoon Hagibis reaching Kamaisha, Japan.
With reports of as many as 33 people dead, several missing, and other notable casualities it was the only sensible decision to made in light of the weather conditions.
With no game to play and a mess around them in Kamaishi left by the typhoon, about 15 Canada players and staff grabbed shovels and brooms to sweep mud and debris off roads, and even from inside residents' homes.
"In times like this there are an awful lot more important things than rugby, and when we got here we saw people's houses absolutely destroyed, water (rising) up the walls," Canada flyhalf Peter Nelson said. "We're just trying our very small part to help them in any way we can."
Lock Josh Larsen added: "We felt for the people of Kamaishi. (We're) happy to help."
"More than a game, it's the values behind it," officials tweeted from the team's Twitter account.
Canada was on a 10-match winless run in the tournament dating to 2011. The Canadians put a ring around this match after becoming the last team to qualify 11 months ago.
"It is a bit of an empty feeling," Canada coach Kingsley Jones said. "I feel the team's grown, but we haven't actually been able to measure our growth. The opposition were about the same level as us. We wanted to measure ourselves here.
"I believe we would have won today. That would have given us a sense of an outcome. This feels like there's no outcome at the moment. It's a bit raw."
Davies said the cancellation was logical: "I've never seen so much rain — and being from Wales we see a lot of rain — but it's been phenomenal."
The Typhoon was downgraded to a tropical storm on Sunday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.