South Africa finished their November window unbeaten after defeating Wales 73-0 in Cardiff today. That result, however, has been blemished by the actions of one of the Springboks longest serving players.
With one minute left on the clock, and the Springboks leading by 73 points, Eben Etzebeth received a straight red card for putting his thumb into the eye of Alex Mann of Wales. Mann reacted angrily – unsurprisingly – and the Sharks captain would be sent to the showers.
It was a moment of madness right out of rugby’s bad old days and Etzebeth will certainly be facing a long ban.
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On BBC Radio Wales, Wales great James Hook called it as he saw it.
That’s a red card. He can’t get away with that.
I’ve not seen a eye gouging like that in a long time.
Completely unnecessary.
Brain-less from Eben Etzebeth. A long ban loading.#WALvRSA pic.twitter.com/VWFwTt9tAD
— Jared Wright (@jaredwright17) November 29, 2025
There was added consternation from Mann that Etzebeth was allowed back onto the field for the post-match handshakes. Mann was not pleased and further words were exchanged on the pitch.
Per Alex Bywater of the Daily Mail, Rassie Erasmus offered no defense for his player when addressing the incident in his post-match press conference.
I don’t know what I can say that isn’t controversial. It didn’t look good. It was a justified red card. It’s definitely not the way we’d have liked to have ended the game. The optics weren’t great
Springboks captain Siya Kolisi meanwhile claimed Etzebeth’s actions weren’t intentional in a post-match interview with TNT Sports.
“I’m sure he didn’t mean to do that on purpose. You go for an eye gouge, you know what happens after that. We said sorry to the guy [Mann] already but I don’t want that to be the highlight of the day, it’s been a good day.”
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