Rassie Erasmus reacts to Eben Etzebeth's red card: The optics weren't great

The mighty Boks capped off their stellar season with a record-breaking 73-0 win over a hapless Wales in Cardiff on Saturday. There were tries aplenty, but only for the men on green and gold as their power game was too much for the hosts to handle.

But the match ended sourly. Shortly after Etzebeth scored the 11th and final try of the match, he was involved in a scuffle with flanker Alex Mann. TMO Eric Gauzins picked up Etzebeth's thumb in Mann's eye socket and referee Luc Ramons was left with little choice but to award the legendary lock a straight red card.

"I don't know what I can say at this stage that won't be controversial," Erasmus told the press.

"It didn't look good, and I thought it was a justified red card. How it happened and why it happened, I'm not sure.

"I don't know if he was provoked, but that's definitely not the way we want to play. The optics weren't great."

Despite Etzebeth's relatively clean disciplinary record, the 142-cap veteran is now facing a lengthy ban, with initial speculations around 12 weeks.

Moving on to the match itself, Erasmus was proud of his charges for capping off the season in emphatic style.

"I'm very proud of the way we played," said the World Cup-winning coach.

"We never underestimated Wales, regardless of where they were in the world rankings, and their team as well, in general.

"I think Asenathi [Ntlabakanye] made the last turnover, and we are so glad guys like him, Zach [Porthen], and many others who haven't played for us in a while. Their hunger showed today, and it was important for us to fight until the end."

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