South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus has hit back at New Zealand counterpart Dave Rennie over claims that the Springboks are scrummaging illegally.
The hosts levelled the Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series at 1-1 with a hard-fought win in the second Test in Cape Town, after a week of the two sides trading press conference barbs.
Rennie had suggested that the world champions had been unfairly rewarded during a dominant scrummaging performance even in a 33-16 first Test defeat at Ellis Park, believing that they were walking around and failing to drive straight.
Erasmus insisted: "It's the first time in history that people are talking about us walking around. Why would we all of a sudden walk around? The first six scrums New Zealand had, every single one collapsed and it was reset, reset, reset. Why is it only on their ball that the scrum collapses every single time?"
He added: "So don't come with that nonsense and saying we are walking around and trying to put things out in the media. The last lineout was skew. I'm not going to moan my arse off about that. If he's going to start moaning about stuff like that, then they are under pressure."
Despite defeat, Rennie was happier with the officiating at the set-piece. "The scrums were better tonight," he said. "I think Angus [Gardner] was pretty strong around setting a mark and trying to keep the hookers in the same sort of spacing. If the Springboks moved across further left, he stopped them."
The series continues on Saturday as the two sides return to Johannesburg for the third Test at FNB Stadium. It will conclude in Baltimore on Saturday 12 September.