Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi has accused England flanker Tom Curry of being a "bully" following an alleged tunnel altercation after England's 27-23 victory on Sunday. The 48-year-old coach claims the 27-year-old player shoved him and used foul language, adding to controversy over a late tackle that left Argentina's Juan Cruz Mallia with a suspected ACL injury.
Contepomi described the tunnel incident in detail at the post-match press conference. He said Curry approached to greet Argentina coach Fernando, who refused due to Mallia's injury. «I said, 'man, you broke the knee', (and Curry said) 'f**k off', and pushed me like that,» Contepomi explained. England team manager Richard Hill was reportedly present during the confrontation.
The controversial tackle
The tensions stem from Curry's 74th-minute tackle on Argentina full-back Juan Cruz Mallia. «I don't know where to start with it because I don't know if it was reckless or how would you describe it,» Contepomi said. He added: «I am not a good English speaker, but I would call it reckless. We ended up playing with 14 [men], they ended up with 15, and it was not even checked out.»
Mallia's injury appears serious. «Clinically, it looks like an ACL, but we need to check it,» the coach confirmed. Argentina finished the match with 14 players after exhausting their bench.
Character under scrutiny
Contepomi questioned whether rugby should reward such behavior. «So maybe it is his nature, I don't know. Probably those are the guys we are rewarding and we praise. Maybe that's where we want rugby to go, I don't know,» he said. He added: «Now, I would say I'm not happy with the situation. After breaking someone's knee, I think you need to be at least humble enough and respectful to say sorry I did something wrong.»
The Argentina coach suggested camera footage might corroborate his account. «Luckily, probably there are cameras there, so I'll show it and say maybe they see it as nothing, no incident,» he stated.
Borthwick defends Curry
England head coach Steve Borthwick firmly defended his player's character. «I think that anybody in this room who has had any contact with Tom Curry knows, as a character of a man, his character is impeccable,» he said. «He's a fantastic team man and a very respectful guy. I think Tom Curry's character is unquestionable.»
Borthwick confirmed he wasn't present during the tunnel incident. «I didn't see it. I wasn't there. I was in the changing room at the time,» he explained. He added he wouldn't want the incident to overshadow «what was a tough, hard Test match, where two teams really went at it for the afternoon.»
England's autumn clean sweep
The victory completed England's first four-Test autumn Twickenham clean sweep since 2016, marking their 11th consecutive win of the calendar year. George Ford contributed 12 points including a drop-goal, while Bath centre Max Ojomoh scored an early try on his first home start and provided assists for Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Henry Slade.
Argentina made England work for the victory. The Pumas narrowed the gap to a single point with 15 minutes remaining before England's bench proved decisive. Rodrigo Isgró scored a defiant late try for Argentina, but England held on under coach Steve Borthwick.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
