No laughing matter: Peter de Villiers has once again hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons © Getty Images

That incident continues to take the shine off their achievement - South Africa showed great character and mental strength in both of the opening two Tests to see off a brave Lions team and exact revenge for their series defeat 12 years ago. But instead of glowing in that success they find themselves fighting fires due to their outspoken coach Peter de Villiers.

De Villiers sparked the controversy by insisting that the Burger incident did not warrant a yellow card and that such incidents were a part of sport - “It's sport, man. This is what it's all about,” he said. SA Rugby have since issued a statement apologising for any suggestion that, "acts of foul play are in any way condoned by South African rugby." But the same day that apology was issued, De Villiers was again defending the actions of his player and denying the incident took place.

It seems no one has the power to silence De Villiers or at least get him to tone down his opinions. There is an argument that he is bringing the game into disrepute and the suggestion that eye-gouging is part of the game is simply horrifying. That one statement could do irreparable damage to a sport that is trying to boost participation levels at grassroots level and also make a bid for Olympic re-inclusion.

Lions centre Brian O'Driscoll made a very telling point - "Kids or parents watching an interview like that, questioning whether they should have their kid play rugby or soccer, that's their decision made right there."

SA Rugby are going to be under increasing pressure from the International Rugby Board is they are unable to silence their coach.

I was sent some interesting facts on the back of Burger's latest indiscretion courtesy of my Scrum.com colleague Huw Richards.

Saturday's yellow card was Burger's first on the international stage for four years and 32 matches. He also holds the record for the most yellow cards in international rugby with his latest being his sixth - coming in his 50th match. His latest yellow card saw him edge past Italy's Marco Bortolami on that particular unwanted rugby record.

He collected his previous yellow card against Ireland on June 12, 2004, then on consecutive weekends against Wales and Ireland that November, against France on June 25, 2005 and Australia on July 23, 2005 - in other words in the space of 15 matches and little over a year.
Meanwhile, the British & Irish Lions were granted a couple of days off by team management to get over their defeat at Loftus. Some of them went on safari in Limpopo on Monday a trip that produced perhaps the most amusing press release of the tour so far.

The Lions' communications team (and their South African counterparts) have been incredibly helpful throughout the tour but their attempt to keep the media machine well fed during two days of media inactivity had us giggling.

The release in question offered the following hold-the-front-page sound bites:

"On Monday we went on an early game drive, jumped in the truck, grabbed a blanket and were driven round. We saw all sorts of animals, the hippos in the water, elephants, warthogs, zebras, a hell of lot of impala and deer and the backside of the elusive Lion!" - Tom Croft

"The safari was amazing, to actually see the elephants and the Lions up close and then right at the end to actually get in the cage with the Lion was one of the best moments of the tour." - Ugo Monye

"The safari was brilliant fun." - Ross Ford

Thankfully the void was filled by Brian O'Driscoll who decided to give De Villiers both barrels for his controversial comments.