WATCH | Wallabies skipper shrugs off Nic White's 'Oscar': 'Halfbacks are characters'

Wallabies captain James Slipper says he didn't see last weekend's incident involving scrumhalves Faf de Klerk and Nic White that saw the Springbok No 9 receive a yellow card.

During a scrum close to the Australian tryline, De Klerk tried to slap the ball out of White's hands, but bad execution saw him slap the Wallabies No 9 in the face.

White milked the incident for all its worth, going down like a soccer player in agony, before Kiwi referee Paul Williams gave a bemused De Klerk a yellow card.

In the aftermath of Australia's 25-17 victory, White copped flak for his antics on social media, and when probed on the incident at a press conference on Monday, Slipper tried to dismiss it.

"Two halfbacks going at it... it's quite interesting. I was in the scrum so didn't even know what happened," Slipper told reporters. 

"But halfbacks are characters, they're always talking... there's no doubt Whitey (Nic White) was talking to them as well."

??? "It's a disgrace to the game of rugby that a player can behave like that."??? "It's stupid enough to have a swinging arm, he opened himself up to it."Butch James and Nick Mallett on that Faf de Klerk and Nic White incident.. pic.twitter.com/HPUgNnznaG

When one reporter asked Slipper whether he saw White's reaction, the prop responded: "No, as I said I was scrumming."

The reporter then asked: "But you didn't see it on the big screen? Slipper responded with a "No".

The reporter continued: "He was pretty badly hurt so do you think he will recover in time (for Saturday's Test in Sydney)?"

Slipper concluded: "Yes, probably. He cops it all the time."