{"id":306102,"date":"2025-11-24T18:39:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T18:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/306102\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T18:39:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T18:39:11","slug":"england-will-submit-cctv-footage-after-tunnel-bust-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/306102\/","title":{"rendered":"England will submit CCTV footage after tunnel bust-up"},"content":{"rendered":"

The RFU will submit video footage to the authorities to demonstrate the detail of Sunday\u2019s post-match tunnel scuffle between Tom Curry and Felipe Contepomi, after the Argentina head coach claimed the England flanker pushed and swore at him.<\/p>\n

England beat Argentina 27-23 at Twickenham on Sunday in a spicy encounter, which ended with a fracas on the field at full-time involving several members of each team. The Argentinians were incensed that Curry had hit Juan Cruz Mall\u00eda late in a tackle after 75 minutes, which damaged the anterior cruciate ligament in the full back\u2019s knee. Contepomi then extraordinarily called Curry a \u201cbully\u201d<\/a> after the match and said he had shoved him in the tunnel and told him to \u201cf*** off\u201d. <\/p>\n

The Argentinians on Monday made a formal complaint about Curry to the Six Nations, the governing body which organises the Autumn Nations Series. The Six Nations has subsequently contacted England to hear their side of the story. <\/p>\n

\"England's<\/p>\n

Curry and Mallia have history \u2014 the England forward was sent off after just 11 minutes during the pool match against Argentina in the 2023 World Cup after this clash of heads<\/p>\n

SANDRA MAILER\/SHUTTERSTOCK<\/p>\n

The Times understands that the RFU will provide any footage \u2014 from CCTV and other cameras \u2014 it has which might show this alleged incident. The RFU has also been asked to provide a statement to the Six Nations, which will then judge if this requires further investigation or a disciplinary procedure. <\/p>\n

The governing body will not issue an update until it has heard both sides of the story, so will spend the next few days gathering evidence.<\/p>\n

Curry is unlikely to be cited for his tackle, as it does not meet the red-card threshold. He was penalised on the field but not shown a card. He can, however, be brought before a disciplinary hearing for his post-match conduct, if it is deemed that Contepomi\u2019s version of events was accurate.<\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/p>\n

Curry made a late tackle on Mall\u00eda, the Argentina full back, late in the game<\/p>\n

DAVID ROGERS\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Contepomi spelt out his issue with the Sale Sharks and England<\/a> player on Sunday night. \u201cIt is part of his nature to bully people,\u201d he said. \u201cBut he came off in the tunnel and he gave me a little smack. I\u2019m 48. [It was] not a smack, a push, a hit here on the chest. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo maybe it is his nature, I don\u2019t know. Probably those are the guys we are rewarding and we praise. Maybe that\u2019s where we want rugby to go, I don\u2019t know. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was standing there [in the tunnel] and he was coming and wanted to say hi to one of our coaches but we said no because we were upset. He was reckless and broke our player\u2019s knee. I know it is rugby but if we don\u2019t look after each other in rugby it could be dangerous. <\/p>\n

\"Argentina's<\/p>\n

Contepomi accused Curry of shoving him in the chest after the game<\/p>\n

JUSTIN TALLIS \/ AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was coming and [I] said, \u2018Mate, you broke his knee\u2019 and he said, \u2018F** off\u2019 and pushed me like that. Maybe that is the way he is, I don\u2019t know him. I am not happy with the situation, after breaking someone\u2019s knee I think you need to be at least humble enough and respectful to say \u2018Sorry I did something wrong\u2019 but he went the opposite. <\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it is his way of being a bully. If we want bullies in this game, good on them. It was a late, late tackle, or reckless.\u201d<\/p>\n

England have not publicly addressed the tunnel scrap, but offered a defence of Curry\u2019s character more generally on Sunday evening. Steve Borthwick<\/a>, the head coach, said: \u201cAnybody who\u2019s had any contact with Tom will know that his character is impeccable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henry Slade, the centre, added: \u201cHe is the furthest thing from a bully I have ever seen. He\u2019s such a genuine, genuine guy who cares a lot about everyone. Wears his heart on his sleeve. A very tough guy but I wouldn\u2019t say he\u2019s anywhere near being a bully at all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The RFU will submit video footage to the authorities to demonstrate the detail of Sunday\u2019s post-match tunnel scuffle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-306102","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}