Yes, I think that's what Mallet was saying that the ABs were cleaning past the ball at the point of contact at the ruck then taking out the Springbok player, who was in the breakdown at the same time; and the support player was immediately picking the ball to go around the corner. So it was very difficult to call obstruction.
Whereas the Boks were just cleaning out over the ball and not taking out AB players.
Unless you're saying ABs were clearing out illegally.
Video of Mallet's point from around 5mins and 25secs in below video.