Damian De Allende has revealed that the South Africa team did not discuss the ongoing racism accusations made against Bongi Mbonambi whilst preparing for the World Cup final. The Springboks went on to win the tournament, beating New Zealand 12-11 on Saturday night.
South Africa’s success was almost overshadowed earlier in the tournament though when they clinched a narrow success over England in the semi-finals. After the match, it soon emerged that Tom Curry had alleged that South Africa’s Mbonambi had called him a ‘white c***’ in the first half and asked referee Ben O’Keeffe for advice on how to deal with the matter.
World Rugby promptly began investigating the matter before announcing on Thursday that there was ‘insufficient evidence’ to act upon the accusations, meaning that Mbonambi could feature in the final for the Boks. The hooker played just two minutes against New Zealand before being forced off through injury, relying on his teammates to grind out the narrow victory.
Speaking after the success, De Allende has insisted that despite the severity of the racism saga, South Africa did not allow the investigation to impact their preparation for the final. He explained: “We never spoke about it.
Buy all of your Rugby World Cup 2023 programmes here
“Rassie [Erasmus], our Director of Rugby, sorted it out and never brought it into the team. We just moved on to training, we didn’t let it come between us. As a squad, we back each other. If you do something wrong, you own up to it and say: ‘I’m sorry, I made a mistake, I did something wrong’.
“Bongi never did that so we accepted he didn’t do anything wrong and we moved on from it straight after the game. Even though it came up and there was a big media blow-up, I think Bongi handled it well.
“Whether he did it or not, we all make mistakes, we all hear things wrong but I don’t see Bongi as being rude or racist to any race.”
England were also victorious last week to secure a bronze medal in France, beating Argentina 26-23, though the disappointment of World Rugby not allowing Curry to personally speak with the higher powers in the sport about the incident somewhat overshadowed the matter. Speaking prior to his side’s final match, manager Steve Borthwick admitted that he felt the Sale Sharks star should have been offered a hearing, at least, to discuss the matter and the circumstances around the alleged racial slur.
