How the Tom Curry-Bongi Mbonambi racism row played out behind the scenes

High up in the stands of Stade de France, a break in play in the first half of the 2023 World Cup semi-final between England and South Africa allowed me to start frantically typing when an Irish journalist sitting next to me, asked if I was listening to the ref mic.

The Ref Talk app broadcasts a live audio feed of the referee’s microphone, but I was never able to hear the ref mic in real time above all the background noise in a stadium. So I said: “No, why do you ask?” My colleague replied: “Because Curry has just told the ref that Bongi called him a c---”.

At half time, another Irish journalist stated that he was listening to the same feed but thought that the word “c---” was prefaced by the adjective “white”, transforming a potentially interesting story into an incendiary one.

The comment, however, was not picked up in the broadcast footage and there was no instant replay function on the Ref Talk app. In the midst of England surrendering a 15-6 second-half lead – plus ça change – it was almost forgotten until Curry emerged in the mixed zone.

When asked about what happened and if Mbonambi had said something he should not have, Curry replied: “Yeah” but would not confirm the exact details. “It does not need to be talked about,” he added.

‘He was trembling with anger’

What the words did not say, his body language did. He was trembling with anger. At this stage, it was impossible to publish a story based on what someone else thought they heard.

However, a recording of the referee’s match feed is released on the Ref Talk app several hours after the game, so early on Sunday morning a small group of journalists in the lobby of a Paris hotel scrolled though the feed to 32min 21sec, where Curry can be clearly heard telling referee Ben O’Keeffe: “Sir, Sir, if their hooker calls me a ‘white c---’ what do I do?”

Some more frantic typing and the story was sent. Sometimes as a journalist you are never sure how a story will land. This was clearly a significant allegation, but I perhaps underestimated how it would blow up like a supernova.

Initially, both camps seemed to downplay the incident. Shortly after the story was published a Springbok spokesperson said: “We are aware of the allegation, which we take very seriously, and are reviewing the available evidence. We will engage with Bongi if anything is found to substantiate the claim.”

Later that day, Steve Borthwick, the England head coach, said: “The situation around that is that I’m not going to comment on anything regarding that incident.”

This was not the first time

However, the Rugby Football Union still lodged a complaint with World Rugby which launched an investigation. Meanwhile, on social media a theory began doing the rounds that Curry had misheard Mbonambi saying “wit kant” which in Afrikaans means “white side”. This would soon become the official Springbok narrative.

When this theory was put to sources within the England camp, the message came back that Curry had not misheard anything.

It later emerged that there had been previous incidents involving Mbonambi and Curry in the 2022 autumn international match against the Springboks at Twickenham.

England’s senior playing group had discussed what they would do if another incident occurred in the semi-final. They decided they would inform the referee at the first available opportunity, which is what Curry did in the 24th minute.

This would also open the gates of hell otherwise known as the Bok troll army on social media. Like Nic Berry, a referee in the 2021 Lions series, Curry was bombarded with abuse, including threats, and this quickly spread to his immediate family as well, to the disgust of his coach at Sale, Alex Sanderson.

“I don’t understand why what someone does on the rugby field causes them to receive threats,” Sanderson said. “It is disgusting. It is out of order. It is the worst part of the world we live in.”

On Oct 26, five days after the semi-final, a World Rugby investigation found no corroborating evidence from available audio or video feeds to support Curry’s accusation that would have enabled it to open disciplinary proceedings against Mbonambi. This allowed the hooker to play in the World Cup final against New Zealand.

The RFU launched a furious – by its standards – response and Borthwick lambasted World Rugby for failing to allow Curry to have his “voice heard”.

World Rugby ‘lacked stomach for the fight’

A senior figure within the England camp questioned whether World Rugby would have made the response had the roles been reversed, and suggested that it did not “have the stomach for the fight”.

A World Rugby source says this is simply not true and that they could never launch disciplinary proceedings when it is just one man’s word against another.

The two camps circled the wagons around their respective player.

Maro Itoje praised Curry for his courage, saying: “Definitely, as team-mates, we are proud of him. To call out stuff like that isn’t easy,” while South Africa director of rugby Rassie Erasmus made Mbonambi his profile picture on his social media accounts. As Erasmus later told the Chasing the Sun documentary: “I trust Bongi Mbonambi with my life. If Bongi says ‘Relax, I know what I said’, then I will relax.”

In the Rainbow Nation, it is hard to understate how potentially loaded an accusation of racism against a black South African could be. Yet the seriousness of the matter was undermined by how much of a joke many figures around the Springbok set-up found it to be.

In the build-up to the final, South Africa players were openly shouting: “Watter kant,” during open training sessions while the South African government even issued a statement saying: “The Webb Ellis is in South Africa’s kant!!”

Yet the pot continued to bubble long after the tournament finished. In an interview with the Daily Mail, Curry made plain “there was no misunderstanding on my part,” while Mbonambi told BBC Africa: “I think it is a very sad thing when you live in a first world country [England], you think the rest of the world speaks English. It was unprofessional on their part.”

Rancour still lingers

Time has failed to heal wounds. Asked in September whether he would shake Mbonambi’s hand this autumn, Curry said: “I’m not answering that.”

As the Chasing the Sun documentary shows, there is still considerable ill-feeling in South Africa at how the story threatened to derail their preparations for the World Cup final.

“We are playing the World Cup final on Saturday,” Erasmus said. “Just stop. Just stop it now. If he is guilty charge him next week, but don’t f--- up a whole team.” They also believe Mbonambi has been subject to an unfounded character assassination over a misheard phrase.

England feel just as strongly that justice was never served and that South Africa made light of the torrent of abuse that Curry and his family suffered.

The concussion that Curry suffered against Australia has ruled him out of the rematch against Mbonambi and the Springboks on Saturday at the Allianz Stadium but there will be no shortage of bad blood because of two words picked up on a ref mic.