Argentina’s head coach, Felipe Contepomi, referred to Tom Curry as a “bully” and claimed that the England flanker pushed him during a heated exchange in the tunnel following Sunday’s 27-23 loss at Allianz Stadium.
The Pumas were angered by Curry’s tackle on Juan Cruz Mallia in the 75th minute, which led to Mallia leaving the field with a suspected ACL knee injury, leaving Argentina with 14 players to finish the match.
Although Curry’s challenge resulted in a penalty, it was not reviewed by the television match official. Contepomi confronted the challenge from outside the coach’s box, and after the final whistle, a significant scuffle broke out between the teams, culminating in the confrontation between Contepomi and Curry.
Contepomi expressed his displeasure, stating, “Curry, let me say, it is probably part of his nature to bully people. He came into the tunnel and he gave me a little smack. He is 27, strong. I am 48.”
He continued, “I was standing there. He was coming to say ‘hi’ to one of our coaches (Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe), but Fernandez said ‘no, no’ because we were upset since he was reckless and injured our player’s knee.”
“After breaking someone’s knee, you need to be at least humble enough and respectful to apologize for doing something wrong. But he went the opposite,” Contepomi added.
England’s head coach, Steve Borthwick, defended Curry, praising his character as impeccable and emphasizing that he was not present during the incident in the tunnel.
Borthwick stated, “As for the incident in the tunnel, clearly I’m aware there was an incident. I didn’t see it, I wasn’t there, I was in the changing room at the time.”
England secured their 11th victory by defeating Argentina, completing a successful series of wins this month. Borthwick commended the team’s performance in a hard-fought match and highlighted the ongoing development and potential of the team moving forward.
