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Etzebeth claimed he feared being “rag-dolled” by Mann(Image: 2025 Getty Images)<\/p>\nThe 24-year-old has broken his silence after he found himself at the centre of the biggest story in world rugbyEtzebeth claimed he feared being “rag-dolled” by Mann(Image: 2025 Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Wales star Alex Mann has addressed the horror eye-gouging incident that placed him at the centre of the biggest story in world rugby following his side’s autumn international campaign.<\/p>\n
The Cardiff<\/a> backrower was involved in a scuffle with Springboks icon Eben Etzebeth in the closing moments of South Africa’s 73-0 demolition of Wales in November when the veteran lock made contract with the Welshman’s eye with his thumb, with TV replays shocking the crowd inside the Principality Stadium as well as those watching around the world.<\/p>\n Etzebeth’s actions were widely slammed as “disgraceful” and, after appearing before a disciplinary panel, he was banned from rugby for 12 weeks<\/a>. He is expected to return to action in April, having missed much of the season for his club side Sharks.<\/p>\n While the 34-year-old Springbok has since taken to social media to apologise for making a “big mistake” and insist the act was not intentional, Mann has only now spoken out on the incident, admitting the fallout from it was “pretty mad”.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I was getting sent clips of it every 30 seconds, to be honest with you,” said the 24-year-old, as he explained how he did not let the hype around the incident affect him.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t really think about it. It is what it is. I didn\u2019t really think twice, I just got on with my stuff and focused on what I have been doing.\u201d<\/p>\n While the replays of the incident were damning, some social media users accused Mann of starting the incident by provoking Etzebeth with a gouge of his own<\/a>, with Springboks legend Bryan Habana demanding an investigation into what happened as questionable footage emerged online.<\/p>\n The contentious online claims were promptly discredited by the findings of the disciplinary hearing, but the Cardiff star has admitted to feeling frustrated as the wholly inaccurate allegations circulated around social media.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, it was frustrating because it wasn\u2019t the truth,\u201d he said. \u201cI knew the truth and it was clear to see. There\u2019s not much more I can say on that.<\/p>\n \u201cLook, it\u2019s in the past for me now. It was a bit of handbags and everyone could see what happened.”.<\/p>\n Mann, who will line up for Cardiff against Racing 92 on Saturday afternoon, also acknowledges that aggression and confrontation are part of the game, but it must happen “in the right way”.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s 15 men going out to hurt each other, in my eyes \u2013 in the right way obviously, not in a malicious way,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s contact sport, you understand what it is.<\/p>\n “You can take it over the edge sometimes, it\u2019s natural. Everyone is human, but it\u2019s just about learning from those experiences. It\u2019s challenging in the right ways. It might come out wrong sometimes, but that\u2019s all a learning curve.”<\/p>\n Follow all of our channels to ensure you stay up to date with the latest Welsh rugby news. Sign up to our<\/strong> free daily newsletter here<\/strong><\/a> and our <\/strong>WhatsApp channel here<\/strong><\/a> for all the breaking news.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 24-year-old has broken his silence after he found himself at the centre of the biggest story in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[13416,4151,44812,79,16,15,14260],"class_list":{"0":"post-684271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-cardiff-rugby","9":"tag-rugby","10":"tag-south-africa-rugby-team","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-wales-rugby-team"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115864692726221878","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1_Screenshot-182.jpg\")
Etzebeth was banned for 12 weeks for his gouge on Mann<\/p>\n