Wales create unwanted history with horror show in front of their own fans amid 203cm giant’s ugly act

Wales have sunk to one of their lowest ebbs in history after a 73-0 loss to South Africa in Cardiff.

It was a bleak end to the autumn internationals for Wales, who went into the Springboks clash without several of their main stars given the match fell outside of World Rugby’s official Test window.

As a result, clubs in England and France who have Welsh internationals in their squads were not required to release them for the match.

Grim history made in Wales’ loss

The scoreline marked Wales’ heaviest defeat in front of their own fans and the first time they’d been held scoreless on home soil since 1967.

Unfortunately for the Welsh, the previous record was set during this year’s Six Nations as they were hammered 68-14 by England in March.

Aside from the demoralising scoreline, the 73 points conceded by Wales was the most they’d ever shipped in Cardiff.

The 73-0 margin was also the nation’s second-heaviest defeat of all-time, with the record set in 1998 via a 96-13 loss to South Africa.

‘Absolute hiding to nothing’

“This was so bad,” former Wales international Ian Gough said on BBC Radio Wales.

“For South Africa, that second half was like a training ground exercise.

“The gulf is remarkable and there are no quick fixes for Wales.

“It was always going to be an absolute hiding to nothing, but I thought we would have scored more points.

“Even with our first team, it would have been over 50 points.”

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South African giant’s ugly act

Despite their utter dominance, the Springboks ended the match on a sour note as star forward Eben Etzebeth was sent off in the dying minutes of the contest.

Etzebeth, who stands a whopping 2.03 metres tall, was shown a red card after he eye-gouged Wales’ Alex Mann in a significant brain fade.

But it had no bearing on the result as Wales failed to find a way onto the scoreboard at the death.

The lack of quality within the squad evidently showed from the get-go as South Africa piled on 28 points in the first half courtesy of tries to Gerhard Steenekamp, Ethan Hooker, Jasper Wiese and Morne van der Berg.

Unfortunately for Wales, it only got worse as the visitors proved simply too powerful in every area.

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who bagged two of the Springboks’ seven tries in the second half, finished the contest with a staggering 28 points to his name thanks to his nine conversions.

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Despite the margin, Springboks skipper Siya Kolisi believed his team ‘respected Wales as much as we could’.

“It was good, we’re proud of today and the whole tour,” Kolisi told Welsh broadcaster S4C.

“We respected Wales as much as we could, and we needed to go out and play our game.

“We love the Welsh boys, I love Jac Morgan and Dewi Lake. We need Wales and we went through what Wales went through before 2018.

“The fans need to continue to show up, and people asking why we’re playing today. And it’s simple, for experience.”

Following a run of autumn internationals in which they only beat Japan, Wales will next be in action on February 7 when they face England in the Six Nations.