All Blacks captain Sam Cane has become the first man to be red carded in a men’s Rugby World Cup final.

The 31-year-old was sent off for a yellow card that was upgraded after his shoulder made contact with Springboks centre Jesse Kriel in the 28th minute. Initially sent for 10 minutes in the bin, the tackle was reviewed and deemed a red by the TMO match official Tom Foley.

All Blacks v South Africa live updates of Rugby World Cup final: Click here

The deciding factor in the decision appeared to be that Cane was very upright, with no bend in the tackle at all.

The All Blacks were losing 3-9 when Cane was sent off, with Handre Pollard extending it to 3-12 in favour of South Africa a few minutes later.

It comes after All Blacks blindside flanker Shannon Frizell was given a yellow card in just the second minute after falling on Springboks hooker Bongi Mbonambi’s leg during a ruck.

Cane is just the 11th All Blacks player to be shown a red card.

All Blacks red cards
Cyril Brownlee v England 1925 - Kicked an English player on the ground

Colin Meads v Scotland 1967 - Kicked Scotland five-eighth David Chisholm

Sonny Bill Williams v Lions 2017 - Connecting with his shoulder to the head of Lions wing Anthony Watson

Scott Barrett v Australia 2019 - Dangerous shoulder to the head of Wallabies captain Michael Hooper

Ofa Tu’angifasi v Australia 2020 - High contact on Wallabies winger Tom Wright

Jordie Barrett v Australia 2021 - Collecting Marika Koroibete in the head with boot

Brodie Retallick v Japan 2022 - Dangerous clean-out on loose forward Kazuki Himeno

Angus Ta’avao v Ireland 2022 - Colliding heads while attempting to tackle Ireland centre Garry Ringrose

Scott Barrett v South Africa 2023 - Two yellow cards

Ethan de Groot v Namibia 2023 - High contact on Namibian loose forward Adriaan Booysen

Luke Kirkness is an Online Sports Editor for the NZ Herald. He previously covered consumer affairs for the Herald and was an assistant news director in the Bay of Plenty. He won Student Journalist of the Year in 2019.