SOUTH AFRICA rugby star Eben Etzebeth was shown a straight red in the closing minutes of his team’s 73-0 win over Wales for eye-gouging Alex Mann.
The Springboks were cruising to a rampant win over sorry Wales before the sickening incident in the 78th minute.
After a fracas towards the end of the game, Etzebeth involved himself in the drama as the lock reached out towards his rival.
He then poked Mann directly in the left eye with his thumb before being pulled away by his team-mates.
The moment of madness was looked at by TMO Eric Gauzins, before referee Luc Ramos sent him off.
World Rugby’s sanctioning rules state that players could receive a maximum ban of four years, though that punishment appears unlikely.
The minimum ban for such an offence is 12 weeks, though it could reach 24 weeks.
Other than the eye-gouge, Wales could have no complains after crashing to their biggest ever home defeat against the rampant world champions.
This was more of a ritual slaughter than a rugby match, as Wales failed to score a single point on home soil for the first time since they lost 3-0 to Ireland here in 1967.
The Springboks crossed for 11 tries, with fly half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu scoring two of them, and kicking nine conversions for a 28 points haul.
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This was the most tries and the most points Wales have ever conceded in Cardiff. And the winning margin eclipsed the 54 points that separated England and Wales when the old enemy romped to a 68-14 win here in March.
Sure they were without 13 players based in England and France because this mis-match took place outside the usual Autumn international window – but South Africa lost 12 players for the same reason.And it was still men versus boys.
It was one way traffic right from the start, and the only surprise was that it took the Springboks almost ten minutes to open their account.
But there was no stopping giant prop Gerhard Steenkamp from a couple of yards out, although Wales should have done much better when wing Ethan Hooker waltzed through a couple of flimsy tackles to score the second try.
South Africa’s overwhelming scrum supremacy earned them a torrent of penalties, allowing them to keep Wales pinned deep in their own half.
Rio Dyer and Joe Roberts had to double up in the tackle to deny Damian Willemse a try, but that scrum power saw the Welsh pack driven over their own line, and No 8 Jasper Wiese touched down for the easiest try he will ever score.
The Springboks backs were also enjoying themselves. A silky break from Feinberg-Mngomezulu and a big carry from Damian de Allende allowed scrum half Morne van der Berg to dive over for try no 4..
Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicked all four conversions, and the visitors were certainly not flattered by their 28-0 half time lead. It would quickly get even more painful for the hushed crowd of 50,112.
There was no repeat of the slow start from South Africa after the break. They added four more tries in rapid succession through Franco Mostert, Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Canan Moodie and Andre Esterhuizen sent them through the fifty points barrier.
Yellow cards for back rowers Taine Plumtree and Aaron Wainwright added to the Welsh woes, and the scoreboard grew more and more humiliating.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu got his second, while Etzebeth and Ruan Nortje made it ten different try scorers for the Springboks. It was all too easy for them.
