Eben Etzebeth is expected to appear at a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday after his red card for alleged eye-gouging in the dominant victory against Wales on Saturday, with the Springboks lock potentially facing a long ban. The verdict is likely to be announced on Wednesday.

As South Africa closed in on a record 73-0 win in Cardiff, Etzebeth clashed with the Welsh back-row Alex Mann, appearing to make contact with his opponent’s left eye in a fracas involving several players from both sides.

With two minutes left at the ­Principality Stadium, the 34‑year‑old was shown a red card by the referee, Luc Ramos, after a review with the television match official, Eric Gauzins. “You have a clear ­finger in the eyes, so for me, it’s a ­permanent red card,” Ramos said during the review.

A ban would be a blow to ­Etzebeth’s club, the Sharks, who begin their Champions Cup campaign in Toulouse on Sunday before hosting ­Saracens in Durban six days later. The maximum ban for making intentional contact with an opponent’s eyes is four years, while an offence at the lowest end of the scale may result in a four-week suspension.

A mid-range offence could involve an eight-week ban and a top-end offence 12 weeks, with any ban’s length potentially reduced in light of his previously good disciplinary record, and other submissions made by Etzebeth’s team.

A number of factors will be con­sidered, including the fact that ­Etzebeth reportedly apologised to Mann after the match. Should the panel find that Etzebeth intentionally eye-gouged his opponent, however, a long ban seems guaranteed.

“I don’t know what I can say now that won’t be controversial,” Rassie Erasmus, South Africa’s head coach, said on Saturday. “It didn’t look good, I think it was a justified red card. How it happened and why it happened, and if he was provoked, I’m not sure. But that’s definitely not the way we would have liked to end the game.”

In January, the South Africa wing and Etzebeth’s clubmate, Makazole Mapimpi, was banned for three matches having admitted making contact with the eye area of an opponent in a United Rugby Championship encounter against Cardiff. Mapimpi had previously been banned for two weeks for a similar incident involving Maxime Lucu, of Bordeaux, in 2023.

skip past newsletter promotion

The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week’s action reviewed

Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

In April Henco Venter, of ­Glasgow Warriors, received a six-week ban for making contact with the eye area of Dan Cole in a Champions Cup game against Leicester. Chris Ashton (10‑week ban in 2016) and Dylan Hartley (six-month ban in 2007) are other notable names to be punished for similar offences.