VIDEO: Erasmus reacts to Etzebeth's eye-gouge red
CARDIFF, WALES: Another Test on tour, another red card for a Springbok lock, and head coach Rassie Erasmus conceded “the optics weren’t great” after Eben Etzebeth was sent off in the 79th minute for eye-gouging during the closing stages of South Africa’s 73-0 demolition of Wales in Cardiff.
What should have been a momentous occasion for the Springboks and ending their strenuous five-week tour on a tremendous high after running in 11 tries and not conceding a single point against the Welsh, was marred by the incident in the last minute of the match.
Etzebeth, who had just scored the last try, received a red card from referee Luc Ramos after a scuffle ensued, and the lock was dismissed for making contact with the left eye of Wales flanker Alex Mann.
“I don’t know what I can say that won’t be controversial,” Erasmus admitted.
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“It didn’t look good, and it was a justified red card. How it happened, why it happened, or whether he was provoked, I’m not sure. But it’s definitely not how we wanted to end the game. The optics were not great.”
The experienced lock, who stretched his Springbok caps record to 141 in Cardiff, is now facing what appears to be a significant suspension.
This is just as his club team, the Sharks, kick off their Champions Cup campaign against Toulouse on Sunday, December 7, before hosting Saracens and then moving into a run of South African derbies.
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