England Rugby World Cup star Tom Curry breaks silence on Bongi Mbonambi racism accusation | Rugby | Sport

England star Tom Curry has doubled down on allegations that South Africa’s Bongi Mbonambi called him a ‘white c***’ at the Rugby World Cup. The two teams faced each other in the semi-finals, with the Springboks prevailing 16-15 before going on to win the competition.

Curry approached referee Ben O’Keeffe during the hard-fought game against South Africa to inform him of the alleged incident. World Rugby investigated the matter after the match but decided not to penalize Mbonambi due to ‘insufficient evidence’.

Many South African fans theorized that the keeper may have used the phrase ‘wit kant’, which translates from Afrikaans as ‘white side’ and would make sense due to the color of England’s jersey.

Curry remained silent on the issue as the dust settled for the tournament, which the Springboks won by a narrow victory over New Zealand in the final. But the 25-year-old has now spoken out, and there are few doubts about his version of events.

“I didn’t want to talk about it from the beginning,” Curry said The Daily Mail. “For me, on both occasions, the ball was out of play.

“Me and Bongi were talking and there is no misunderstanding from my side. I went to the referee immediately. I heard what I heard. That’s all I want to say about it and I won’t talk about it really again.”

Appearing in Cape Town earlier this month, Mbonambi was presented with a jersey by the city’s mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis, who appeared to mock the allegations as he emblazoned the phrase ‘wenkant’, which translates to ‘winning side’ ‘.

The allegation against Mbonambi Curry opened up about online abuse, and he admits: “It was tough on my family, my girlfriend and my brother. It was a tough experience but it is what it is. The t – investigation done and that’s what I want to say about it.”