Sam Warburton confessed he was stunned by the actions of Cell C Sharks' scrum-half which resulted in a red card during the British and Irish Lions' match.
Back row Dylan Richardson dragged Liam Williams into touch by his neck, with Sharks No. 9 Jaden Hendrikse following up by elbowing the full-back in the head as the No. 15 was dragged into touch and went to the ground.
The 46th-minute incident on Saturday was picked up by TMO Stuart Berry and resulted in referee Wayne Barnes issuing a red card.
Ex-Lions captain Sam Warburton admitted he was left stunned by Hendrikse's actions, while Nigel Owens dubbed the incident "dirty".
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Warburton, commentating for Sky Sports, said: "I'm stunned at that. In this day and age, you think you can get away with that."
Welsh referee Owens told viewers the player would be lucky if it was a yellow card.
He said: "That's a card for me. That's dirty and needless play.
"Elbow to the head, I'm sorry, you're off for 10 minutes."
When the red card was issued, Owens added: "I'm not surprised, to be honest.
"It may have not looked much force in it, but it was needless.
"An elbow straight to the head - you don't want that type of thing. That's what we want out of the game. The game is tough as it is.
"I agree with that decision."
The two sides had been level 26-26 at that time, with a much-changed Sharks side testing the tourists in their second clash in just four days after stepping up to replace the Bulls amid Covid disruption.
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