Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi accused Tom Curry of shoving him in the tunnel post-match and swearing at him after Los Pumas’ 27-23 defeat to England in the Autumn Nations Series.
Twickenham played host to a tempestuous final chapter of the autumn internationals on Sunday – off the field as well as on it.
After racing away to a 17-0 lead thanks to the boot of George Ford and the fleet feet of Max Ojomoh and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, England survived a seriously intense Argentine fightback in the second half.
However Argentina boss Contepomi wanted to focus on a matter of morals, rather than the game itself that saw England go 11 matches unbeaten.
The 48-year-old described how Tom Curry had tried to approach the Argentinian coaching team to say hello to Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe in the tunnel, but grew hostile when he was told it was not the right time to chat because his ‘late’ and ‘reckless’ tackle had injured fullback Juan Cruz Mallía.
Contepomi said: “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 and yeah, sorry but he went the opposite.
“[England team manager] Richard Hill was there, so you can ask him if you want.”
This came after tempers flared at the final whistle, too.
Rather than shake hands, England back rows Henry Pollock and Curry engaged in a tussle with the Argentina side.
Both came on as replacements in a second half which saw Argentina score 20 points to England’s ten.
Rodrigo Isgró’s last grasp try backed up the idea of a second Remontada in a row, following their 33-24 victory over Scotland last weekend, having been 21 points behind.
Indeed, Los Pumas could have won it in the dying seconds, had their line-out functioned and Ben Earl hadn’t been able to snaffle the ball – much to the delight of a raucous Twickenham crowd.
Contepomi, however, continued with his indictment of Sale Sharks flanker Curry.
He said: “Probably it’s part of his nature to bully people.
“If that’s the guys we are rewarding and we praise – maybe that’s the way we want rugby to go.”
The penalised tackle left Toulouse’s Mallía unable to continue and he faces an anxious wait ahead to discover the severity of his injury.
Conteponi added: “I know it’s rugby, but, you know, if we don’t look after each other in rugby, it could be dangerous.
“Clinically, it looks like an ACL.”
England head coach Steve Borthwick rebutted the challenge offered by his counterpart.
He described Curry as ‘a very respectful guy’ and his character as being ‘impeccable’.
Neither Borthwick or captain Maro Itoje would be drawn on the incident itself, either.
Feature image: Olivia Franks
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