Etzebeth’s moment of madness undermines Boks’ record-breaking performance against Wales

A terrible moment of madness by lock Eben Etzebeth took the gloss off what was an emphatic Springbok performance against Wales to end the 2025 season on a high.

The Boks scored 11 tries to hand Wales their worst ever home defeat.

More importantly, it took the Boks’ try tally for the season to 81, matching the record previously held by the 2007 Boks.

But the 2025 class did it in 14 Tests, while the 2007 World Cup winners played 17 Tests that year. Rassie Erasmus’s men averaged 5.8 tries per match this year. In 2007, Jake White’s team averaged 4.8 tries per game.

With each passing week this Bok team underlines its status as the greatest ever.

But with such domination and success, comes responsibility as leaders of the game, and Etzebeth’s final-minute indiscretion tarnished a great and professional Bok performance.

Etzebeth was shown a deserved red card for his moment of madness and all that will be decided now is how lengthy the ban will be.

The 141-cap veteran was involved in a 79th-minute altercation and amid the usual pushing and shoving, Etzebeth thrust his thumb into Wales flank Alex Mann’s eye.

The giant lock, one of the greatest to ever wear the jersey, will come up with some defence that it was an accident, but the pictures did not look good, or represent what is good about Bok rugby.

After a November of red cards that were undeserved, this incident did nothing to help the Boks’ image. They are respected as rugby players, but the whiff of thuggery is always one moment away. Acts of such stupidity do not help their cause.

Whatever happens, Etzebeth is likely to miss the bulk of the current United Rugby Championship season, which will hurt the Sharks and not the Boks. If he escapes with anything less than a 12-week ban, it would be a surprise.

Undermining the team

Etzebeth’s thuggery also undermined others in his team.

Centre André Esterhuizen’s mighty performance, which included a try and multiple assists, as well as flyhalf Sacha Feinberg Mngomezulu’s 28-point haul, are now footnotes to an ugly, unwarranted incident.

The Boks are comfortably the best team in the world, and against a callow Wales unit, the world champions destroyed the home team on all fronts.

In some ways that was a mark of respect to Wales because the Boks took this match seriously. They did not arrive and throw the ball around as if it was a glorified training run.

Read more: Boks won’t show mercy but Rassie wants a strong Wales for the sake of rugby

They scrummed, mauled, launched contestable kicks, defended and attacked as if they were up against the best team in the world.

The reward was an emphatic performance that highlighted the best of South African rugby.

Esterhuizen was colossal, with surging, defence-splitting runs, while many others such as No 8 Jasper Wiese, captain Siya Kolisi, wings Ethan Hooker and Canan Moodie, Kwagga Smith and Feinberg-Mngomezulu, were all magnificent.

The contest was over by halftime, as the Boks ran in four tries on the back of a dominant scrum and gain line momentum.

It wasn’t a surprise that the world champions took such early control against such an inexperienced Wales unit, but it was good to see that the Boks approached the game with clarity.

They didn’t disintegrate into a mess with individuals trying to outdo each other. The Boks remained committed to the tactical battle, launching aerial kicks to win field position and choosing territorial ascendency first and foremost.

Hooker won the first two aerial battles, which set the tone for the afternoon.

Loosehead prop Gerhard Steenekamp scored the opening try in the ninth minute, after an 11-phase build-up to lay down a marker of what was to come.

The Boks’ punishing gain line power in the build-up was a harbinger of worse to come for the outgunned Dragons.

Hooker scored the Boks’ second try and his second in Test rugby, after a powerful Bok scrum created space for scrumhalf Morné van den Berg to go wide.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu drew two tacklers, and fed fullback Damian Willemse, who slipped the ball to Hooker, who in turn bumped off two defenders for the score.

The Boks’ third try was scored by Wiese as the Bok scrum pushed Wales over their own tryline, and the fourth was the result of more pressure and a snip by Van den Berg close to the line.

Second-half massacre

After halftime, the punishment was unrelenting. Tighthead Wilco Louw added try number five from close range, after a multi-phase pounding on the Wales’ line.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu was next in the action as he took a quick tap penalty and sniped over for his first try. He later scored a second, and landed nine off 11 conversions.

Further tries came from Moodie, Esterhuizen (who thoroughly deserved it), lock Ruan Nortjé and Etzebeth, minutes before he sullied his own reputation and that of the team. DM

Scorers:

South Africa – Tries: Gerhard Steenekamp, Ethan Hooker, Jasper Wiese, Morné van den Berg, Wilco Louw, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2), Canan Moodie, André Esterhuizen, Ruan Nortjé, Eben Etzebeth. Conversions: Feinberg-Mngomezulu (9).