Officials completely missed Sean O'Brien clocking Waisake Naholo in the head in an incident that has since been deemed a red card offence by the citing commissioner. The defence that Naholo ducked could also be seemingly applied in Williams' case.
In both instances intent may not have been there, but the outcome in terms of force applied to the opponents' head remains. Naholo had to leave the field for a concussion test. That he later passed is beside the point. Watson came back after his head test, too.
Then we come to Lions prop Mako Vunipola. Twice he hit Beauden Barrett late without the ball. One minor; the other he was lucky to escape with a yellow card. Whatever your view, rules in rugby are now such that head is completely off limits. Vunipola fair collected Barrett with his attempted cleanout. Given the context of the match, it was a brain explosion.
But according to Lions assistant coach Graham Rowntree, who also did not want to discuss the O'Brien incident while it was with the judiciary, Vunipola's actions were not a major.
"Mako is a physical player but he's not a dirty player," Rowntree said. "We get on with it. I thought we dealt with it quite well when he was off the field. It's not for me to comment any further."
Lastly we have Kyle Sinckler. One could argue the Lions replacement prop was fortunate to be given the match-deciding penalty after Charlie Faumuina tackled him in the air. The reality is Sinckler jumped to receive a pass, and then had to be restrained by team-mates from taking his umbrage further.
Sinckler wasn't finished there. Post-match he was at the centre of a feud involving several All Blacks for apparently refusing to walk down a guard of honour.
Nothing to see here again, according to Rowntree.
"I don't think there's any issue there. It's an emotional game; a physical game. Tempers got a bit out of control maybe. That happens. I've been there myself. The game was that intense you could feel it pitch-side."
In isolation some of these incidents occur regularly in rugby. With the magnitude of this series; use of video technology and slow motion replays some are made to look worse on second and third glance.
But combine the Lions' offending and it is not a good look when, just one week prior, Gatland attempted to paint a picture of the All Blacks' illegal tactics.
Williams and O'Brien will learn their fate on Sunday night. Whatever the respective outcomes, the Lions would do well to tread carefully about their reaction. They have certainly run out of stones to throw.
After conceding 13 penalties to the All Blacks' eight, Rowntree did admit this aspect almost cost the Lions the match.
"We've got to sort it out because it's going to kill us. We can't be giving penalties away like we're doing at the moment. It's going to be a big focus.
"It's not as if it's the same individuals but there's a trait to what we're doing. We can't lose a test series on the back of some stupid penalties that would be unacceptable. How would you live with that for the rest of your life?
"We understand we've got to be better. Our game is still developing. We showed glimpses last night that we can play. The All Blacks will be better. They'll be hurting as we were going into this game. They don't normally make such mistakes so we're expecting a reaction at Eden Park - they don't lose there very often do they?"
