South Africa inflict record home defeat on Wales but ugly Eben Etzebeth eye gouge mars win

Wales suffered a record 73-0 thumping to South Africa as Welsh rugby ended a miserable year with further humiliation in Cardiff.

Steve Tandy's under-strength side simply had no answer to the Springboks' power game that produced 11 tries at Principality Stadium and Wales' heaviest-ever defeat on home soil.

There was an unsavoury end to the contest as replacement Eben Etzebeth was red-carded for gouging Alex Mann's eye.

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"I don’t know what I can say that won’t be controversial,” Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus said of the Etzebeth incident. “It didn’t look good. It justified the red card. How it happened and why it happened, whether it was provoked, I’m not sure."

South Africa - who will end 2025 top of the world rankings for the third year in a row - surged into a 28-0 interval lead with Gerhard Steenekamp, Ethan Hooker, Jasper Wiese and Morne van der Berg crossing.

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu went over twice in the second half, and there were also tries for Wilco Louw, Canan Moodie, Andre Esterhuizen, Ruan Nortje and Etzebeth as the Springboks bettered England's 68-14 Cardiff victory in March.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu - who was educated at Llandovery College in Carmarthenshire as part of an exchange programme with his school in Cape Town - added 18 points with the boot for a personal 28-point haul.

In a year of numerous lows, Wales were 'nilled' for the second time in 2025 following their 43-0 Six Nations defeat to France.

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While the post-match video debrief by Tandy and his staff will underline the huge gulf between Wales and the world champions, serious questions will be asked as to why the Welsh Rugby Union arranged this fixture in the first place.

Wales were forced to field a weakened side minus their 13 England and France-based players with the match falling outside World Rugby's official Test window.

South Africa had also lost players to club duty but were still able to call on a dazzling array of talent, with their bench alone boasting more Test caps than Wales' entire matchday squad.

A predictable pattern was set from the first legal scrum that resulted in shivers down Welsh spines and a penalty on halfway.

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The ball was clinically recycled for prop Steenekamp to dive over from close range and Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicked the first of his nine conversions.

South Africa's scrum dominance led to a second score as Hooker sliced through some weak tackling and they were 14 points ahead in as many minutes.

Wiese dotted down from another scrum five yards out, but Wales' first-half pain was not over as the visitors claimed their fourth try in the final moments.

Esterhuizen punched a hole through the Welsh midfield and scrum-half Van der Berg was in close attendance for a fifth Test try in only six appearances.

The carnage continued in the second half as Louw profited from another Esterhuizen burst, Feinberg-Mngomezulu strolled through unchecked, and Moodie successfully chased a loose ball he had kicked on.

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Three tries in under 10 minutes and South Africa then sent on their entire eight-strong 'Bomb Squad' bench to join the party.

Wales spent 20 minutes of the second half down to 14 with yellow cards for back-rowers Taine Plumtree and Aaron Wainwright, and South Africa were in no mood to let up.

Esterhuizen raced through and Feinberg-Mngomezulu added his second before Nortje and Etzebeth - who would not see the game out and now faces the prospect of a lengthy ban - went over to kick-start Welsh rugby's latest inquest.

"It's always hard to watch when you feel it's hard to get any grip of the game," said head coach Tandy. "It's disappointing to lose any game, but obviously the margin stings and it's really raw for the group.

"In fairness to the group, it's not a lack of effort, a lack of want, or a lack of trying. We just came up against a team that is way further down the track than us.

"But it can't take away from a lot of the buildings that we've done in the first three games. I knew when I got the job this fixture was in place.

"Look, we'll learn lessons from it, but ultimately it's the rugby. We've got to focus on how we get that better.”

PA