Dale Steyn feels his feud with Michael Clarke has been unfairly portrayed as a schoolgirl squabble.

The on-pitch showdown between Steyn and Clarke was built up as much as the ongoing one-day series between South Africa and Australia, with bad blood brewing for eight months.

The Proteas paceman insisted on Tuesday he never intended to “start a massive thing” in August, when he noted he may never forgive Clarke for a personal sledge in March.

“Maybe I just said too much,” Steyn reflected in Canberra.

“It got blown up completely, it was like two schoolgirls the way the media got hold of it … it was a bit silly.

“I said if I see him, we’ll have a normal chat between the two of us.

“It’s got nothing to do about ‘I’ll see you in the car park and we’ll beat the crap out of each other’.

“Hopefully he gets well, he’s a great player and I think there’s enough respect from both of us.”

Steyn and Clarke had a heated exchange during the third Test in Cape Town, as the hosts desperately tried to hang on for a draw late on day five.

Clarke apologised in his post-match press conference.

“I would have been called a sore loser (for complaining) after losing the series,” Steyn explained.

“So I just kept my mouth closed until it was my turn to say something.”

Steyn repeatedly stated throughout Tuesday’s press conference that he wanted to move on from the saga.

But a throwaway line uttered when the cameras stopped rolling suggested there was more to it, with Steyn saying he tried to speak to Clarke in Perth but the Australia skipper didn’t want a bar of it.

Earlier, Steyn suggested the final session of March’s thrilling three-Test series had been “great theatre”.

“I don’t expect anything less in this series. It would be a disappointment if Mitch Johnson didn’t abuse Faf (du Plessis),” he added.

“It would be disappointing if I didn’t abuse somebody, and (David) Warner didn’t have a go at someone.

“Why would anyone want to come and watch us play cricket apart from our skills? It’s got to be entertaining and that’s why we play.”

Steyn said Australia were well known for being “in-your-face kind of cricketers, kind of bullying teams and stuff like that”.

“I don’t play my cricket like that,” he said.

“I don’t quite agree with the way some of the things are done, I think there’s a line.

“And I try to stay close to that line but never overstepping it.”