SA coach Ryan Harris called it "a s*** rule", but added they considered also making use of it.
After being in trouble midway through day three on Saturday, Victoria snared five wickets after tea to leave the reigning champions on the ropes.
SA are 5-94 in their second innings, an overall lead of only 31 with two days left. They must win the final to go back-to-back for the first time.
After Victoria were dismissed at tea for 261 in their first innings, paceman Sam Elliott was warming up during the break when he was hobbled by a hamstring injury.
That sparked several minutes of confusion - Victoria activated Mitch Perry as the injury substitute and he hurried to the nets to warm up, only to be told he could not do so under the provisions of the rule.
Then Victorian assistant coach Ben Rohrer was denied permission by the umpires to field until Perry was ready to come onto the ground, meaning they had to scramble for a suitable player.
When Perry finally was brought on to bowl, he snared SA captain Nathan McSweeney with his first delivery to leave them in disarray at 3-35.
"It's always frustrating when it's against you. So it's a s*** rule unless you make the most of it," Harris said.
"In saying that, we could do the same - we're allowed to do the same until the end of play.
"I'm an old-fashioned Test cricketer. You get injured and you're a bowler down.
"But in saying that, what happened today is the rule. Whether it's right, I don't know, it's not for me to say."
Harris also noted the rule has been in place for this Shield season and they considered bringing in Wes Agar as their own tactical sub, which was open to them after Perry was activated.
Adding to the drama, Perry originally was axed from Victoria's Shield final team to make way for Elliott.
"I was pretty cooked after about two and a half overs," Perry said.
"It was a bit of a shock to the system."Â
SA now need a miracle, with Test 'keeper Alex Carey 24no at stumps and Shield player of the season Liam Scott on two.
"We just have to make sure tomorrow we try to make the most of it and get as many as we can ... and defend it like it's literally the end of our lives, I guess," Harris said.
"We just fight our butts off."
Victorian captain Will Sutherland capped an excellent day by having Jason Sangha caught behind for 34.
Fergus O'Neill and Sutherland had led Victoria's recovery after lunch, wresting the momentum from SA and setting up a first-innings lead of 63.
O'Neill top-scored with an unbeaten 64 from 134 balls, featuring seven fours - his fourth first-class 50.
After play was delayed by more than a hour on Saturday morning at Junction Oval because of more rain, Victoria reached lunch on 5-150.
Marcus Harris did not add to his score before he feathered an edge off Scott and was caught behind for 40.
That left Victoria on the brink at 6-157 in reply to SA's 198.
But O'Neill and Sutherland batted Victoria out of trouble with a 55-run stand.
Sutherland, who took four wickets in SA's first innings, scored 34 from 57 balls. The Victorian skipper gave them the lead with a pull shot for six off Jordan Buckingham.
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