CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Dave Rennie declined to criticise Rassie Erasmus' wholesale change of the Springboks front-row an hour before kick-off in the Springboks' 33-26 win over the All Blacks on Saturday, but the New Zealand coach accused South Africa of "walking around" in scrums - drawing a retort from his counterpart.
An hour before kick-off, Erasmus swapped his starting front-rows around - opting to go with Thomas du Toit and Gerhard Steenekamp either side of Deon Fourie after initially planning to start Ox Nche and Wilco Louw alongside Malcolm Marx.
Late changes to starting lineups are occasionally made due to injuries. However, Erasmus said that he brought Nche, Louw and Marx off the bench rather than starting them due to the match taking place in drier conditions than expected.
"We thought it was going to be wet and that's why we picked the front row. The whole weather prediction, the whole week, was [that it was] going to be wet," Erasmus said in his post-match press conference.
"We thought: 'Then, we'll need our heavier front row.' For the first half of the game, we were always going to use two front rows - but then, closer to the game, the weather [forecast] showed it was going to be dry. We felt our front row that's a little bit lighter would be better on the dry field."
Erasmus may have deviated from the norms of rugby in terms of the timing and reasons for his changes, but Rennie did not accuse him of crossing any legal lines over team selections.
"We stuck with the team we named and it doesn't worry me at all. They named their team on Monday. That had no bearing on the team that we named. So, yeah - no drama from my perspective," Rennie said.
"I guess when you name the team on Monday, there's a chance that there's going to be changes. So, to be fair, we took minimal notice of the team [announcement from Erasmus] on Monday because there's a chance that it's going to be different on Saturday."
Rennie was less diplomatic - even if still somewhat restrained - when discussing the Springboks' techniques at scrum time.
"The scrums were better tonight. I think (referee) Angus [Gardner] was pretty strong around setting a mark and trying to keep hookers in the same sort of space. The Springboks moved across further left and he stopped them," Rennie said.
"We'll give [officials] a bit of feedback around that. It's still a bit of an issue for us, because they're able to walk around and then go straight through our tighthead.
"There are a couple of little technical things we'll share, again, but I thought at the end - at the scrums - both teams were able to play off them - so I think Angus did a reasonable job there."
But those comments drew the ire of Erasmus, who said: "We've been playing with the pack of these guys together. It's the first time ever in history that people are talking about us walking around. Why would we, all of a sudden, walk around?"
Erasmus pointed to what he perceived as a pattern of the scrum collapsing on New Zealand's feed rather than South Africa's and added: "I wouldn't come with that nonsense and say we are walking around and try to put those things out in the media. If I'm starting to put things out, the last lineout was skew and we contested. I'm not going to moan my arse off about that.
"If they just want to start moaning about stuff like that, then they are under pressure. Last week (in a 33-16 Springboks loss in the opening Rugby's Greatest Rivalry Test in Johannesburg), we didn't moan after there was clear head contact a lot of times.
"Today, in the first 40 [minutes], there were four head contacts and nothing was done about it. Then, Lood [de Jager] gets the first [yellow card late in the game].
"Don't try to convince the people through the media - that's what happened in the first week. They tried to convince people in the media that we're slowing the game down and we're not. If the referees get caught up by that, then there's a plan to get that message out.
"We're not going to stay quiet and say: 'Yeah, you're right. We're walking around.' We're not f---ing walking around. We're scrumming through."
The four-Test series is deadlocked at 1-1 after two matches, with the teams set to face off at FNB Stadium in Nasrec, Johannesburg, on September 5. Subsequently, the series finale will take place in Baltimore, Maryland on Sept. 12.