The Springboks have doubled down on Rassie Erasmus' controversial comments in extraordinary fashion, as South Africa captain Siya Kolisi claimed he did not feel respected by last week's referee Nic Berry.
Erasmus suggested Lions captain Alun Wyn Jones was given preferential treatment from Berry during his side's first Test defeat and Kolisi backed up the South African director of rugby's acquisitions.
World Rugby are currently deciding whether to launch an investigation into Erasmus' outburst, while the latest spiky remarks from the Boks camp are also not likely to go down well with the governing body.
Kolisi and assistant coach Mzwandile Stick were speaking on the eve of the second Test, with both men standing by Erasmus, who released an hour-long critique of World Rugby's officiating and its processes by video yesterday.
The Boks skipper was asked if he felt like he was treated differently as captain, and also if he was confident that he would have an equal voice in tomorrow's second Test.
"First question, yes, I didn't feel respected at all,” Kolisi responded.
“I didn't feel I was given a fair opportunity. That's the answer to the first question.
"The second one, yeah, I'm looking forward to a new game and a new referee. I think Ben (O'Keefe) will give a fair opportunity for both captains and that's all we're asking."
Kolisi was later asked to expand on why he didn't feel respected by Berry.
“Did you watch the video that has been put out there,” he snapped, before the reporter admitted he hadn't watched the full thing.
“Okay, well I think watch the video and then we can chat after the game,” Kolisi continued.
“I don't really want to get into it, to be honest. We can speak about it after the game. I will speak about anything about the game, but I don't want to get involved in that.
“But I didn't feel that... I didn't get given the same access to the referee. There's proof. If you watch the game, you will definitely be able to see yourself.”
Stick also launched a scathing attack on the Lions, who he claimed called the integrity of World Rugby into question.
Lions head coach Warren Gatland had aired his concerns about South Africa TMO Marius Jonker being appointed for the three-Test series.
“Without going deep on it, let’s go on the build-up to the first game,” Stick said.
“Firstly the integrity of World Rugby was challenged by another human being, where Marius Jonker was appointed TMO then someone on the other side was asking World Rugby and challenging them about the decision they made.
“Everyone knows we are living in a pandemic time, we are living during Covid and the other gentleman that was supposed to be the TMO because of the Covid protocols he couldn’t travel to South Africa. Unfortunately that is not in our hands and we don’t appoint TMOs.
“And the fact that that was publicly challenged by another coach on the other side and to date I haven’t heard any statement from his side apologising about it, I haven’t had any statement from World Rugby.
“So I feel, you know what, we are not asking for any favours, we are not asking for any favours. We just want equal ground, it has took us 12 years to get to where we are at the moment so I wouldn’t like the whole series to be all about decisions that were taken by the officials or the whole vibe about the coaches off the field.
“We are living in different times now so the traditional media conferences and there is a social media which is very powerful and I know there has been a lot of hype between the two coaches which is our director of rugby Rassie and Gatland on the other side.
“All I am saying is that if whatever Rassie said on the social media, I am not on Twitter so I don’t know, but I have seen videos around and all that stuff. For me, media conferences or social media there is a saying in Xhosa that the birds they have all got different sounds but they all come under the same bush. That is my point I am trying to get across.
“Even if things are being said in social media or they are being said in the traditional media conference it is still the media.
"Both coaches wanted to get their messages across and it was clear Rassie wanted to get his own personal view, it had nothing to do with us a team, our main focus was to train and actually, I am on facebook, so I saw a couple of things and once again for us, we are not asking for any favours, we just want a fair, equal ground for everyone.
“So if Rassie got into trouble for what he said on social media I think the gentleman (Gatland) that challenged the integrity of the game at the beginning when the TMO was challenged, I think that is something that really destroyed the dignity of the series, and it also challenges the integrity of World Rugby.
“It says a lot about the gentleman who was going to be the TMO at the time, which was Marius Jonker, so I think that is where it should come from," Stick added.