South African Rugby officials and the Bok camp are unhappy that World Rugby, in ending its probe into the racism row swirling around Bongi Mbonambi, failed to put the matter to bed once and for all.
Sources in the Springbok entourage said that although World Rugby had “deemed the matter closed” because of the absence of evidence, by leaving the issue open for possible further action it had failed to unequivocally exonerate Mbonambi.
The row blew up over an incident in the England vs South Africa semifinal last Saturday when English forward Tom Curry told the referee: “Sir, if their hooker calls me a white c**t, what do I do?” His complaint was audible on the referee’s microphone.
England’s Rugby Football Union (RFU) asked for an official investigation by World Rugby, which said on Thursday it had conducted a review of Curry’s allegations “along with a further allegation brought forward in recent days about a previous match in the autumn nations series 2022”.
“Any allegation of discrimination is taken extremely seriously by World Rugby, warranting a thorough investigation. Having considered all the available evidence, including match footage, audio and evidence from both teams, the governing body has determined that there is insufficient evidence at this time to proceed with charges. Therefore, the matter is deemed closed unless additional evidence comes to light,” a statement said.
“It is important to note that World Rugby accepts that Tom Curry made the allegations in good faith, and that there is no suggestion that the allegation was deliberately false or malicious.”
We’ve had our say and we will leave it there. We are going forward
— South African rugby official
The South African officials said they were unhappy that the second allegation, dating from a Test at Twickenham in November last year, had been brought up during the World Rugby review this week.
“That’s just bullshit,” one official told the Sunday Times.
The rancour will likely sour relations between the two sides over the coming months.
The South African view is that England put huge pressure on World Rugby to launch an investigation and that the whole affair has caused much anguish. The South Africans are unhappy that Curry has been made to look the victim and that Mbonambi still appears to be the villain.
“We’ve had our say and we will leave it there. We are going forward,” an official said. Overall, South African Rugby was satisfied with the way World Rugby dealt with the matter.
But the RFU was far from pleased with the outcome. It expressed disappointment and said Curry’s voice had not been heard in the evidence gathering process.
Many have speculated that what Mbonambi said was “wit kant” (white side), a reference to England’s all-white strip, or some variation of the Afrikaans phrase.
The controversy turned toxic on social media as both players came in for abuse.
“World Rugby is also concerned by the social media abuse that both players have been subjected to this week. There is no place in rugby or society for discrimination, abuse or hate speech, and World Rugby urges fans to embrace the sport’s values of respect, integrity and solidarity,” the organisation said in its statement.
Bok captain Siya Kolisi deplored the online abuse the players suffered.
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