With the game falling outside of the international window, both teams were missing several frontline players. This highlighted both the Boks’ embarrassment of riches and the Dragons’ serious lack of depth as the vaunted visitors handed the hapless hosts their biggest-ever home defeat.
The Boks scored 11 tries in all, with the game over as a contest at halftime after converted tries by Gerhard Steenekamp, Ethan Hooker, Jasper Wiese and Morne van den Berg gave them a 28-0 lead.
Things went from bad to worse for the helpless Welsh in the second half as the South Africans ran in seven more tries, with Wilco Louw, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Canan Moodie crossing the whitewash in short order.
With his charges up 49-0, a ruthless Rassie Erasmus unleashed “The Nuke Squad” (the nickname for the Boks’ 7-1 split bench in favour of the forwards), sending all eight players – including lone backline replacement Cobus Reinach in his 50th Test – on in the 50th minute.
The insatiable back-to-back world champions continued to feast, scoring through Esterhuizen, Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Ruan Nortje and Eben Etzebeth. Unfortunately, the game ended on a sour note with Etzebeth red-carded for eye-gouging Alex Mann.
Our top three Springbok standouts were:
Andre Esterhuizen
Esterhuizen reverted from hybrid back to being “The Agent of Chaos.”
Having had to scrum down and remember all the lineout calls as a replacement flank in his last few outings, Esterhuizen was, on Saturday, an animal unleashed back in his usual position of inside centre.
His powerhouse performance at the Principality Stadium perfectly encapsulated why he was bestowed the “Agent of Chaos” moniker by his former Harlequins coach Tabai Matson as he took wreaking havoc to the next level.
This was his monstrous Magnum Opus and arguably the greatest demonstration of dominance ever by a No. 12 at Test level. That’s how completely and utterly destructive Esterhuizen was.
Two of his barnstorming runs provided the momentum for Van den Berg and Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s tries (the second), while he ran in his thoroughly deserved try in the 54th minute.
On top of that, he won two brilliant breakdown penalties in the final quarter, one near his tryline and the other in the Welsh 22, had deft touches, such as putting Moodie into a gap with a flat pass, and took more names on defence.
It was a Man of the Match performance unlike any other and one earning instant lore. For example, rumour has it that the shockwaves of his tour de force reverberated through the whole of Cardiff.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
Feinberg-Mngomezulu capped off an electrifying season with another outstanding outing.
Such a nightmare to defend because of his extraordinary speed and skillset, the prodigious pivot scored a brace to make it nine Test tries for the season and had a hand in a few more.
He compounded Wales’ woes with his boot, nailing nine of his 11 kicks at goal (all conversions) to finish with a personal tally of 28 points.
Ruan Nortje
One of the Boks’ unsung heroes all year, Nortje had a cracking 2025 and finished off with a tireless performance.
The only South African forward to play the full 80 minutes, the 27-year-old was immense as he lived up to his ironman reputation. No one worked harder than Nortje, who carried, mowed down Welshmen and hit rucks relentlessly whilst covering every blade of grass.
He also ran the lineout like clockwork and was rewarded for his endless endeavour with his first Test try in the 70th minute.
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