Etzebeth red card mars South Africa demolition job as Wales slump to record home defeat
RED CARD: South Africa's Eben Etzebeth leaves the field having received a red card. Picture: Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images
Every bit as dispiriting as expected. Worse, was it pointless? Well, it certainly had more points to it than Wales would have liked. But, worse again, was it actively alienating? A record defeat, the first time since 1967 Wales have failed to score a point here, 11 tries conceded.
South Africa continue to demonstrate their superiority over every other nation. People are starting to compare them to the best sides we have ever seen. And they remain as brutal as ever, mostly legitimately, sometimes less so. They saw their third red card of the autumn, their third to a second row, but there was no arguing with this one. Eben Etzebeth, a full head taller than any of his opponents in the middle of a fracas two minutes from time, jabbed his thumb into the eye of Alex Mann. The least contentious red card of the autumn.
The buildup to this Test was dominated by its characterisation as the game no one wanted, both sides surrendering upwards of a dozen players each to their respective clubs in England and France, the international window now shut. The Welsh regions were down to the bare bones as well, shipping in players on loan to fulfil their fixtures in the United Rugby Championship.
But the harsh reality is, the Welsh union is also down to its bare bones. People like to tut and roll their eyeballs when the making of money is seen as prioritised over player welfare, but there is a difference between “making money” and not haemorrhaging it. The extra revenue from this fixture, no matter the stadium was two-thirds full, is precious indeed as the Welsh Union faces up to the realities of the professional era, as it approaches the end of its third decade.
The bookies gave Wales a 40-point head start. South Africa had covered that only five minutes into the second half, when Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, continuing to play on another plane from most people in rugby, certainly anyone in Wales, scored the first of his two tries. He converted that, just as he had the previous six out of six tries. The Springbok fly-half ended up with a haul of 28 points.
None of South Africa’s 11 tries was exactly dazzling. Imagine if they had actually played at their best. They had four in the first half, all based around an utterly dominant scrum. Ethan Hooker’s try, South Africa’s second, straight from that set piece was nicely worked. The others were a story of brutal physicality.
Wales had one lineout in the Springbok 22 in the first half. They overthrew it. They had another – and their first piece of possession in the opposition “red zone” as people like to call it these days in the 58th minute. They worked a few phases, then Kwagga Smith was over the ball to win the penalty. End of that little interlude.
Smith was on because South Africa brought on all eight replacements 10 minutes into the second half, which meant seven forwards, the whole pack replaced, bar Ruan Nortjé, who weighed in with a try himself 10 minutes from time. Etzebeth led the phalanx of replacements. For a side to be 49-0 down and face the introduction of players of that calibre, nay menace, is almost too much, whether an international window is shut or not.
Etzebeth battered his way over from close range for a try with five minutes to go, the 11th and final of the rout. And then, that grin never far from his face, he took his menace too far. Rarely can an act of barbarity have seemed so pointless. Never has a match here in this famous stadium been so full of points for the opposition.
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