22 October 2023 , 09:35
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Tom Curry claimed he was subjected to a racist slur by South Africa star Bongi Mbonambi during England’s last-ditch World Cup semi-final loss.
The Sale flanker was angry and upset after a semi-final in which England let slip a 15-6 lead in the last 10 minutes.
During the game he approached referee Ben O’Keeffe and was caught on the official’s microphone asking: “Sir, Sir, if their hooker calls me a white c--- what do I do?”
Afterwards Mbonambi refused to shake Curry’s hand and, asked whether the Springbok hooker had said something he should have, Curry responded: “Yeah.”
Pressed to reveal what it was, he said: “It doesn’t need to be talked about. I’m not talking about it now.”
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Head coach Steve Borthwick also clammed up, saying: “The situation around that is that I'm not going to comment on anything regarding that incident.”
World Rugby are unable to comment until the citing window closes, leaving England until 10am today to decide whether they wish to lodge a complaint.
Curry speaks to referee Ben O’Keeffe (PA)SA Rugby said: “We are aware of the allegation, which we take very seriously, and are reviewing the available evidence.
“We will engage with Bongi if anything is found to substantiate the claim.”
One possible explanation is that he was yelling 'white klant' to alert his defenders that the ball was on the English side, 'klant' meaning 'side' in Afrikaans.
(AP)An often bad-tempered game spilled over at the end with England taking exception to Boks celebrating in their faces. Danny Care shoved former Wasps fullback Willie le Roux, sparking a mass flare-up.
Wing Jonny May told Sky: “I’ll be honest I don’t think necessarily the South Africans respect us. Some of the things their coach has openly said about us in their documentaries and stuff probably just adds fuel to the fire.”
Asked if they used it as motivation, he added: “Certainly some boys probably did, yeah” - confirming Borthwick had put up some of the ‘offending’ quotes for the squad to read.
(Getty Images)“We touched on their documentary and we’ve got staff who were with them and they gave us insight of how they feel about us.
“I don’t know (if we earned their respect), I don’t really care.”
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