Scotland coach furious after yellow card enables Springboks to hit back

Asked if there should be any citings after the game he was blunt: “Yes, the fourth official,” he said.

Although the pushing incident that led to Hamilton being sent from the field happened in front of referee Roman Poite and his assistant Neil Hennessy, it was television match official Gerrie Coetzee who was asked for a ruling.

Johnson continued: “I am bitterly disappointed. I believe we could have won and would go as far as to say that I think we should have.

“There was a 10-minute period where we were down to 14 men and we’re not playing tiddlywinks. I’ve never seen someone sin-binned for that before.

“It was ridiculous. I was watching a game of rugby where you saw that kind of thing right the way through. That was nothing but embarrassing.

“Ten minutes for that? That was handbag stuff and it ruined a great, competitive game of footy. It certainly allowed the Boks back into the game and all I’m asking for is consistency. That was completely inconsistent.

“Did the punishment fit the crime? That would be my argument. You saw that happening several times in the game. And you can ask me a thousand times and I won’t change my mind. That punishment didn’t fit the crime.”

Johnson was also outspoken in his criticism of Poite’s handling of the game, adding: “I don’t usually have a crack at officials – my record will tell you that. But this is a crack. We want consistency and tonight was inconsistent.

“We did wonderfully well. When you look at the injuries we had, and the injuries on the pitch as well with two 10s (fly- halves) down, I was nearly getting my boots on and I haven’t played for 30 years.

“We were brave and resilient and I was in that box and have not been so animated in my life. I was animated because of the effort.

“I asked the boys for a special effort and they gave me everything. We were up against a quality rugby team and we knew that.”

Scotland felt the full force of the game with both starting fly-half Ruaridh Jackson and replacement Peter Horne being taken off, as was flanker Ryan Wilson. This at the end of a week where three players from the weakened squad had already had to go home. All three of Saturday’s casualties are doubtful for the rest of the tour.

Hooker Scott Lawson added: “Pride at the performance, you can’t take that away, but for me the over-riding emotion is frustration at the result.

“It was a Test match against the South Africans that we could have won, so it had to be frustration.”

Matt Scott, who scored the opening try, said: “At the start of the game it felt a good vibe.

“You get a feeling at the start and it felt that we were up for it, we were wanting to make tackles and dominate the collisions. Up until the last minute we still could have won the game.”