Rassie Erasmus has rejected Dave Rennie's claims of illegal scrummaging in the Springboks' 33-26 second-Test victory over the All Blacks in Cape Town, and is warning New Zealand against using the media to influence referees.
Rennie announced after the match that he intends to flag the Springbok scrum with World Rugby, alleging the pack 'walks around' at set-piece. Erasmus was unequivocal in his response.
"We've been playing with this pack of guys together for years and it's the first time in history that people are talking about us walking around. So why would we all of a sudden start walking around now?"
Erasmus challenged the selective nature of the complaint, pointing to the scrums in New Zealand's half: "The first six scrums in New Zealand's half, they had every single one collapsed. It was reset, reset, reset, reset. So why is it only on their ball that the scrums collapse every single time? So don't come with that nonsense and say we're walking around and try and put things out in the media."
He broadened his grievance to other facets of the match, including a line-out he felt was crooked, and what he viewed as unpunished head-contact incidents: "Last week we didn't moan after there was clear head contact a lot of the time. And today, in the first 40 minutes, there were four head contacts, and nothing was done about it, and then Lood de Jager gets the first one."
Erasmus made clear he views Rennie's public comments as a deliberate attempt to shape officiating ahead of the decider at FNB Stadium next week. "If the referees get caught up by that, then there's obviously a plan to get that message out. We don't want to stay quiet and just say, 'Oh, you're right, we're walking around.' We're not f***ing walking around. We scrum straight. We've never, ever, ever been accused of walking around."