Eben Etzebeth breaks silence on eye-gouging incident, apologises to Bok fans

Etzebeth was handed a 12-match ban after being deemed guilty of intentionally eye-gouging the Wales flanker during the latter stages of South Africa's 73-0 victory at the Principality Stadium.

The lock pleaded guilty to eye-gouging but argued that he did so accidentally, an independent disciplinary panel disagreed, however, before handing down the suspension.

Etzebeth has been slammed by several former players and pundits, some of whom are ex-teammates, following the incident, and while he remained silent throughout the process, he has now taken to social media to explain his actions.

In a post on Instagram, Etzebeth included two videos of the incident and stated that he decided to break his silence in order to explain to 'young kids who look up to the Springboks' that eye gouging is not 'OK'.

"Hey Everyone, I've been quiet, but now that my hearing is done I think I owe everyone an explanation," the caption on his post began.

"First of all, this is not a post to show that I was not guilty, I accept guilt. I made a mistake and I'm willing to serve a suspension which I deserve.

"I don't want young kids who look up to the Springboks to think that it's OK to eye gouge someone, because it's not, but unfortunately mistakes happen and I made a big one for which I'm sorry."

Etzebeth added that he simply wanted to answer the question of why he would 'do such a thing?'

"It was a mistake caused by my reaction and other factors that played a role," he continued.

"Slide 1: The scuffle was basically over when Wales #7 struck me with an open hand to my chin/neck area, you can see me looking at the Assistant Referee and waiting for a reaction from him (it happened fast and it's understandable that he didn't see it) without reacting yet, I got another pull on my jersey, before I go in with the similar type of action.

"Slide 2: You can clearly see my first point of contact is against his shoulder with an open hand, just like he did, except he got me on the chin. Another thing worth mentioning, when he struck me, I was standing still with not a lot of movement or players trying to get involved. When I went for the same open hand towards his shoulder, you'll see 2 Welsh players changing the dynamic of the entire picture as well as one of my teammates pulling Wales #7 around his neck away from my hand and where my force is going."

The experienced lock added that this was the first red card of his playing career and wants it to be his last.

"So why did I post this? To try and show people how everything happened and that it was never intentional. I would never do something like this on purpose, I know what the consequences will be after playing rugby for a few years," he continued.

"Thanks to everyone that stood by me and thought the best of me. I'm sorry for letting you and the game down. That was my first red card since I started playing. I want it to be my last.

"To the people that were angry and upset with my actions, I understand - because it didn't look good on the slow motion replay and hopefully you've got a bit more context now."