{"id":294956,"date":"2023-10-25T16:25:04","date_gmt":"2023-10-25T16:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/?p=294956"},"modified":"2023-10-25T16:25:04","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T16:25:04","slug":"steve-borthwick-and-owen-farrell-defend-tom-curry-after-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/rugby-union\/steve-borthwick-and-owen-farrell-defend-tom-curry-after-abuse\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Borthwick and Owen Farrell defend Tom Curry after abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Steve Borthwick insists an ongoing investigation over alleged &#8216;white ****&#8217; slur made by South Africa&#8217;s Bongi Mbonambi is &#8216;not a Tom Curry issue&#8217;&#8230; as captain Owen Farrell slams abuse directed at the England flanker<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>England&#8217;s Tom Curry alleged Mbonambi called him a &#8216;white c***&#8217; in exchange\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The flanker will still start England&#8217;s third-place play-off match with Argentina<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Borthwick and\u00a0Farrell gave their support to Curry after a storm of online abuse<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Latest Rugby World Cup 2023 news, including fixtures, live scores and results<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>England head coach\u00a0Steve Borthwick and captain Owen Farrell have hit out at abuse directed to Tom Curry as an investigation continues into a complaint made by the flanker during their semi-final loss to South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>Curry\u00a0complained that he had been called a \u2018white ***t\u2019 by Springbok hooker Bongi Mbonambi during the national team\u2019s agonising 16-15 semi-final defeat at the Stade de France last Saturday.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The 25-year-old approached referee Ben O&#8217;Keeffe to report the alleged comment during the match.<\/p>\n<p>Curry has received a storm of online abuse since making the allegation, including death threats.<\/p>\n<p>Borthwick praised Curry for being the &#8216;ultimate professional&#8217; ahead of England&#8217;s third place match against Argentina, where he will start at No 6.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/25\/15\/76981163-12671433-Curry_alleged_that_Mbonambi_called_him_a_white_c_in_the_World_Cu-a-29_1698245903419.jpg\" height=\"422\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Tom Curry alleged that Bongi Mbonambi called him a &#8216;white c***&#8217; in the World Cup semi-final<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/25\/15\/76989303-12671433-image-a-30_1698245977675.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Steve Borthwick insisted World Rugby&#8217;s investigation should not be seen as a &#8216;Tom Curry issue&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/25\/16\/76989335-12671433-image-a-31_1698246031337.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Captain Owen Farrell blasted online abuse aimed at Curry since he made the allegation<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;From my point of view Tom Curry\u2019s preparation this week has been the ultimate professional,&#8217;\u00a0Borthwick said at a pre-match press conference.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;He always is every single day, every single week.\u00a0This is not a Tom Curry incident.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Somebody has said something in a game that he has reported and he is getting on with preparing.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Now this is a World Rugby and SA Rugby matter to be dealt with, not and England Rugby, not a Tom Curry matter.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Farrell criticised the abuse aimed at Curry, with the England captain insisting the team is supporting him &#8216;all the way&#8217;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The effect the abuse has &#8211; not just on him &#8211; is what I and we really don&#8217;t understand,&#8217; Farrell said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;You are dealing with a human being, just because you are saying stuff on your phone or behind a screen doesn&#8217;t make it acceptable.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I hope he knows that everyone close to him supports him and backs him all the way. I am sure he does.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/25\/16\/76927753-12671433-The_flanker_asked_referee_Ben_O_Keeffe_When_their_hooker_calls_m-a-32_1698246100542.jpg\" height=\"458\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The flanker asked referee Ben O&#8217;Keeffe: &#8216;When their hooker calls me a white c***, what do I do?&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/25\/16\/76927751-12671433-Mbonambi_played_the_full_80_minutes_for_the_Springboks_in_their_-a-33_1698246107236.jpg\" height=\"511\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Mbonambi played the full 80 minutes for the Springboks in their semi-final victory\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Curry&#8217;s club team Sale Sharks have also stated that they are &#8216;appalled by the abuse&#8217; he has been targeted with.<\/p>\n<p>They wrote on X, formerly Twitter: &#8216;Sale Sharks&#8217; owners, players, coaches and staff are absolutely appalled by the nature and level of disgusting abuse directed at Tom Curry and his family in relation to an incident in the England v South Africa World Cup semi-final.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Everyone at the club stands fully and proudly behind Tom and we look forward to welcoming him back to Carrington.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Some South African fans claimed that Mbonambi could have been speaking Africaans.<\/p>\n<p>The Springboks often speak Afrikaans to hide their plans from opponents.<\/p>\n<p>Their fans suggest the hooker may have been saying &#8216;wit kant&#8217; &#8211; which translates to &#8216;white side&#8217; &#8211; indicating the colour England were playing in on the day.<\/p>\n<p>In England&#8217;s dramatic 15-16 loss to South Africa, Curry approached referee Ben O&#8217;Keeffe in the 28th minute of the match, and is heard to say over the ref mic: &#8216;Sir, sir, if their hooker calls me a white c***, what do I do?&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>O&#8217;Keeffe replied: &#8216;Nothing, please.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/25\/16\/76883073-12671433-Mbonambi_played_the_full_80_minutes_at_No_2_for_the_Springboks_w-a-34_1698246145408.jpg\" height=\"417\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Mbonambi can play in the Rugby World Cup final this weekend as the investigation continues<\/p>\n<p>After the final whistle, there was a noticeable altercation between Curry and Mbonambi, who appeared to refuse to shake the England forward&#8217;s hand and marched off down the tunnel.<\/p>\n<p>It was confirmed on Monday that the English Rugby Football Union had lodged an official complaint about the incident, prompting World Rugby to open an investigation.<\/p>\n<p>A statement released by World Rugby \u2013 the global governing body \u2013 said: &#8216;World Rugby takes allegations of discriminatory behaviour extremely seriously.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;We can confirm that we are formally reviewing the allegation made by England&#8217;s Tom Curry in relation to the use of discriminatory language during the England versus South Africa Rugby World Cup 2023 semi-final on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;World Rugby will not be making any further comment until the conclusion of the process.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Mbonambi is free to start for South Africa in Saturday&#8217;s final against New Zealand, with the investigation expected to conclude after the showpiece.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/rugbyunion\/article-12671433\/Steve-Borthwick-investigation-alleged-white-slur-South-Africas-Bongi-Mbonambi-Tom-Curry-Owen-Farrell-England.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Steve Borthwick insists an ongoing investigation over alleged &#8216;white ****&#8217; slur made by South Africa&#8217;s Bongi Mbonambi is &#8216;not a Tom Curry issue&#8217;&#8230; as captain Owen Farrell slams abuse directed at the England flanker England&#8217;s Tom Curry alleged Mbonambi called him a &#8216;white c***&#8217; in exchange\u00a0 The flanker will still start England&#8217;s third-place play-off match&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294955,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Steve Borthwick and Owen Farrell defend Tom Curry after abuse - Tell My Sport<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/rugby-union\/steve-borthwick-and-owen-farrell-defend-tom-curry-after-abuse\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Steve Borthwick and Owen Farrell defend Tom Curry after abuse - Tell My Sport\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Steve Borthwick insists an ongoing investigation over alleged &#8216;white ****&#8217; 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