Last weekend Springboks enforcer Eben Etzebeth put in a huge hit on Scotland star Finn Russell at Murrayfield.
The 6ft 8” lock lined up Russell from 10 metres as the fly-half prepared to take the ball stood still at first receiver with Etzebeth charging towards him.
The Scotland playmaker got rid of the ball a split second before Etzebeth arrived and the 120kg lock smashed Russell five metres backwards in a brutal tackle.
The timing of the challenge was legal and Russell showed great resilience to get back to his feet and play on after the 67,000 fans inside the stadium cheered the monstrous collision.
South Africa went on to win the game 15-30 and full match highlights are available below:
Etzebeth, 30, has earned 96 caps for South Africa since making his debut in 2011 and is widely regarded as one of the game’s greatest locks in modern professional rugby.
After full time Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber said: “We are fortunate to have two quality front rows, who work in tandem and the guys that started laid the foundation, which the replacements built on nicely when they took the field.
“In the build-up to the match we said as a team that everyone thinks Scotland is a great attacking team, but they’ve actually been the best defensive team in the northern hemisphere in 2020 and 2021, as they conceded the least points in the Six Nations and the Autumn Internationals. So we always knew it was going to be tough to break them down.”
Nienaber added: “In the first few minutes of the match we had all the territory and possession, but we knew that if we keep on knocking it will consume energy and we hoped to get a few opportunities at the back end of the match, and it turned out that way.”
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