There was no thawing in rugby relations between South Africa and New Zealand on Monday as Springbok coach Peter de Villiers went on the offensive, saying he'd rather face scrumhalf Piri Weepu than Jimmy Cowan in Saturday's Test at Newlands, and saying the Kiwis relied too much on star flyhalf Dan Carter to win matches.
Veteran prop Greg Somerville retorted by scoffing at repeated allegations that the All Blacks cheated in the scrums, while also taking a swipe at De Villiers' selections by expressing satisfaction that strongman BJ Botha - "one of the best tightheads in the world" - was not in the Bok squad.
Saturday's Test will have a recurring theme, with Dunedin hero Ricky Januarie and Weepu squaring up at the venue they clashed at in 2005.
On that occasion South Africa beat the All Blacks after Weepu had replaced a staggering Byron Kelleher early on and ace flyhalf Carter was rattled into playing his first poor Test for New Zealand. Now Weepu, no doubt with unfinished business, looks set to start on Saturday in the same halfback combination with Carter.
De Villiers, a scrumhalf in his playing days, had some advice for All Black counterpart Graham Henry on whom he would prefer to see in the black No 9 jersey this weekend.
"I hope they play Piri Weepu because he is a strong bugger and strong people tend to overplay their hand, because they trust themselves more.
"Jimmy poses more of a threat, because he can run, kick and he is a thinking player who can put other players into holes. Cowan is streetwise and if you know that kind of streetwise, you know what you are up against when you play the All Blacks.
"What we saw in Dunedin was that we knew we had an ideal chance to win the game, because 14 All Blacks stood back and looked to one player, Dan Carter, to win it for them and do something special.
"The difference is we have 15 players and if they can just all do their job, then we believe in ourselves and that we are much better in certain areas than any other team. But I think Cowan poses a bigger threat than Weepu," said De Villiers.
The stakes couldn't be higher as the winner of Saturday's Test will be in the strongest position to lift the Tri-Nations trophy.
De Villiers, nevertheless, may be winning the psychological battle. In the week before the Dunedin Test he got the upper-hand by accusing the All Blacks of cheating in the scrum. Over the weekend he repeated the allegation.
After pulverising the South African scrum in the first Tri-Nations Test of the year in Wellington, veteran Somerville was rested for the Dunedin game. He returned to extend his number of caps to 62 in the two Tests against Australia.
And yesterday the most-capped All Black prop of all time had some forthright views about South African props, and De Villiers crying foul.
"South Africa scrummed really well against Argentina and took their chances well. So we're expecting a pretty tough encounter. CJ (van der Linde) was good and will have a lot of confidence going into this game," said Somerville.
But of the absent BJ Botha, he added: "I can't say too much, but definitely he is one of the best in the world. So I am not sure why he would not be here.
"With him and CJ you've got two pretty good tightheads, but BJ is definitely one of the best in scrummaging. So I am not sure why he has been left out. He gives them a solid platform and a good right shoulder."
Responding to the cheating charge, the No 3 said: "It keeps surfacing. It gets said every week and you get sick of it.
"You just try and play competitively within the laws. They (the Boks) will try and pressurise us on our ball and get into me on an angle, and the same sort of thing happens with us on their ball.
"People don't want to see scrums become nothing. They still want a bit of the good old stuff between teams who want to have a go at each other. I don't think it's cheating. Just having a go at each other."
With Bakkies Botha out for the rest of the Tri-Nations with a knee injury, Andries Bekker will start on Saturday as one anticipated change to the pack. Schalk Burger is also fit to return at open-side flank. In the backs the only expected change is Bryan Habana returning on the left wing for Jongi Nokwe.