South Africa secured a record win in Wales but their victory was marred by an apparent eye gouge by Eben Etzebeth, who now faces the possibility of a serious ban
South Africa’s Eben Etzebeth was sent off for an eye gouge during a record Springboks win against Wales in Cardiff with the lock now facing a lengthy ban.
The incident occurred late on, after the Springbok had appeared from the bench. The majority of players found themselves in a mass brawl but replays showed that Etzebeth appeared to direct a thumb into the eye of Wales’ Alex Mann.
After it was bought to the referee’s attention by the television match official a permanent red card was shown after it was deemed that Etzebeth’s act had been intentional. The lock now faces a mammoth ban, which is likely to impact on his club career more so than his international one.
South Africa’s season has now finished and they won’t play again until next summer, but under World Rugby’s sanctioning guidelines Etzebeth faces a long ban. The low-end entry point for “intentional contact with the eye” is 12 weeks, with a top-end sanction of upwards of 24 weeks.
Etzebeth’s captain Siya Kolisi, who is also his club team-mate, claimed the act would not have been deliberate. He told TNT Sports: “I’m sure he didn’t mean to do that on purpose and I don’t want that to be the highlight of the game.”
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South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus said in his post-match press conference: “I don’t know what I can say that won’t be controversial. It didn’t look good. It justified the red card. How it happened and why it happened, whether it was provoked, I’m not sure. But the optics were correct.”
The 34-year-old will appear before a disciplinary panel this week. A ban would see Etzebeth miss out next week as the Sharks begin their Champions Cup campaign in Toulouse on Sunday. He would also be unavailable for their efforts in the United Rugby Championship.
A 73-0 defeat was the Wales’ heaviest in history on home soil, with the world champions in impressive form in running in 11 tries despite a number of their more established stars not starting.
Fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who has been one of the stars of the autumn, scored 28 points, which included him crossing the whitewash.
There were further tries from props Gerhard Steenkamp and Wilco Louw, wings Ethan Hooker and Canan Moodie, number eight Jasper Wiese, scrum-half Morne van den Berg, centre Andre Esterhuizen and lock Ruan Nortje.
It was the second worst defeat in Wales’ history behind the 96-13 hammering handed out by the Springboks in Pretoria back in 1998.
