(DailyWire) A male rugby player in New Zealand collapsed and died over the weekend during a match.
The player collapsed and died during a festival match between Ruatoria City’s 2022 squad and a Ruatoria Centennial XV, the New Zealand reported.
The player collapsed after some sort of “on-field incident,” the report said, but it gave no elaboration on what happened and if there was some sort of contact that preceded the player’s collapse.
The report said that there were “extensive efforts to save him” but that he ended up dying at the scene.
The match was canceled and “his body was removed from the pitch,” the report added.
Players reportedly took turns paying their respects to the player on the field and the ground was “to be blessed.”
Despite the man’s death, officials decided to move forward with the Lochore Cup final.
A spectator told the publication that within a few minutes of the player collapsing, multiple ambulances drove onto the field before a helicopter arrived on scene.
Last week, a football player at Mississippi State University collapsed and died in an incident in which officials have provided few details.
Samuel Westmoreland, of Tupelo, Mississippi, announced back in March that he had decided to join the team after a “long and exciting recruiting process.”
Westmoreland, who received awards for his football achievements while at Tupelo High School, decided to major in industrial technology at Mississippi State University.