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England's Tom Curry ruled out of potential Bongi Mbonambi reunion

Henry Slade of England and Rob Valetini of Australia gesture as Tom Curry lies injured on the ground (Photo by Dan Mullan/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

Next Saturday’s potential on-pitch reunion between England’s Tom Curry and South Africa’s Bongi Mbonambi is off, according to Steve Borthwick.

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Having verbally clashed at last October’s Rugby World Cup semi-final in Paris, a divisive situation where the English back-rower claimed he was racially abused by the Springboks hooker, the November 16 Autumn Nations Series fixture was set to tee up an intriguing rematch between the pair.

Curry claimed that he was called a “white c**t” by Mbonambi during the Stade de France game, but a World Rugby investigation in the following days found insufficient evidence. Mbonambi insisted at the time that the misunderstanding had arisen because Curry didn’t realise he was speaking Afrikaans, saying “wit kant”, the white-clothed side.

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Having since overcome a career-threatening hip injury, Curry was queried in September at the Sale training ground in Carrington about the upcoming mid-November Test and his potential meeting with Mbonambi.

Asked if he would shake hands if he came up against Mbonambi on the Allianz Stadium pitch, Curry replied: “I’m not answering that.” He then added: “I have said what I need to say. I think it’s unfortunate what has happened, but it is what it is.”

Player Tackles Won

1
Maro Itoje
22
2
Ben Earl
20
3
Chandler Cunningham-South
18

Having played off the England bench in all three summer tour matches, Curry was a starter last weekend against New Zealand but his appearance this Saturday in the No7 shirt versus Australia was cut short after a juddering blow to the head.

The openside went to tackle Rob Valetini but he got his head on the wrong side and the blow sustained left him exiting the field with less than 23 minutes played.

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At the time, England were comfortably leading 15-3 but his departure was followed by some incredible topsy-turvy action which culminated in a 42-37 win for the Wallabies that was sealed by Max Jorgensen’s 83rd minute converted try.

Asked if Curry early absence upset England’s rhythm, Borthwick said: “If you lose a world class player early in the game it certainly has an impact. I thought Alex Dombrandt came on and played really well, but clearly the balance of the back row changed at that point.

“You have to adapt to those things and we took a few knocks and bangs and we had to change things in that first half quite early, and then that continued through the second half.

“I will be waiting for the full medical report to understand where everyone is at but I think everyone saw the way Tom was down, he will be unavailable next week.”

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Comments

9 Comments
N
NK 7 hours ago

One replay seemed to show George Martin's knee knocked Curry out, caught the back of his head after the contact with Valetini.

N
NigelGhost 1 day ago

Faked an injury to avoid playing the Bokke, in case his feelings got hurt again

M
MB 2 days ago

Steve Borthwick has run out of excuses

Same old

Time to go I think

D
DP 2 days ago

Overrated player. Much better flankers in the UK. Get well soon wit kant.

B
Bull Shark 2 days ago

I can’t believe Borthwick hasn’t been fired yet.


It’s ruined my Sunday a little to be honest.

D
DP 2 days ago

RFU have spunked too much cash to fire him. 6N is going to be very interesting..

K
KiwiSteve 2 days ago

Curry should retire. He is a danger to himself and a liability to the team. He's on a one trip to dementia and motor neurones.

F
FC 3 days ago

Yeah, better to go get concussion than humbled by the Boks again. Get well soon you little twerp.

N
NigelGhost 1 day ago

Putting the cant in kant

B
Bull Shark 2 days ago

I’d also fake a concussion to get out of next week.

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