WALES 0-73 SOUTH AFRICA
by DAVID NICHOLSON 
at the Millennium Stadium

SPRINGBOK power and speed obliterated Wales at the weekend as South Africa ended their winter tour of the northern hemisphere unbeaten.

The World champions scored 11 tries in a dominant display of forward power and lighting-quick back play.

But the victory was marred by a red card for Eben Etzebeth who was sent off after gouging Welsh forward Alex Mann’s eye.

It was an ugly incident and could see the veteran Springbok forward given a lengthy suspension.

Head coach Rassie Erasmus said: “I don’t know what I can say that isn’t controversial, it didn’t look good and it was a justified red card.

“It’s definitely not the way we’d have liked to have ended the game. The optics weren’t great.”

This was an abject performance by Wales who failed to score a point at home for the first time in 58 years and were nilled for the second time this year, and went down to a record scoreline.

It was the second worst defeat in Welsh history behind the 96-13 Springbok massacre in Pretoria in 1998.

Of course, the home side was without 13 first choice players sent home to their clubs as this match was outside the international window, but the Welsh Rugby Union knew that when the fixture was arranged.

It meant Wales were unable to select their 13 England and France-based players that were part of the squad for earlier November Tests against Argentina, Japan and New Zealand.

Tandy had to select a side from Wales’s four regions, which meant his entire squad boasted fewer caps than the Springboks bench.

There was no comfort in defeat for the men in red with no redeeming learning to be had from such a comprehensive mismatch.

A very generous Springbok skipper Siya Kolisi said that Wales will learn lessons from the defeat, but it isn’t clear what.

Wales head coach Steve Tandy admitted it was “hard to watch when you feel it’s hard to get any grip of the game.

“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.

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

“We need games of rugby as a nation that wants to get better. Yes, we had to bring people in and it isn’t perfect circumstances.”

While the game was meant to be a money-spinner for the WRU only 50,000 spectators chose to watch the World Champions out of a possible capacity of 72,000.

Defeats like this will depress attendances in the future and the WRU will have to pray Tandy’s rebuilding brings one or two victories in the Six Nations, however unlikely that feels now.