World Rugby is investigating allegations of a racial slur made by South Africa hooker Bongi Mbonambi during his team’s World Cup semifinal victory over England.

It is an alleged offence, that, if proven, could rule him out of this Sunday’s final against the All Blacks at the Stade de France, with New Zealand assistant coach Scott McLeod saying Mbonambi would be a big loss for the world champion Boks.

“I learned about it this morning,” McLeod said. “It is something World Rugby will deal with. if anything came of it, it would be a massive dent for them. He is a leader of their team. When Siya [Kolisi, South Africa captain] goes off, he becomes the captain so I imagine it would impact them.”

England flanker Tom Curry alleged during the Boks’ 16-15 victory that Mbonambi had called him a “white ****”. Curry’s complaint was picked up on the microphone worn by Kiwi referee Ben O’Keeffe, who said he would deal with it.

Mbonambi’s comment was not picked up by O’Keeffe’s microphone.

Curry refused to talk to the media about it afterwards and while England had the option of citing Mbonambi, it appears World Rugby have opened an investigation themselves.

A statement from the governing organisation this morning read: “World Rugby takes all allegations of discriminatory behaviour extremely seriously.

“We can confirm that we are formally reviewing the allegation made by England’s Tom Curry in relation to the use of discriminatory language during the England versus South Africa Rugby World Cup 2023 semifinal on Saturday.

“World Rugby will not be making further comment until the conclusion of the process.”

The investigation has the potential to be hugely disrupting for the Springboks, who are hoping to defend their title after beating England in the last final in Japan four years ago.

What is more, as hinted at by All Blacks defence coach McLeod, if Mbonambi is found guilty, he faces a ban which will inconvenience the Boks considerably.

As reported by 1News yesterday, Rugby’s Law 9.12 states: “A player must not verbally abuse anyone. Verbal abuse includes, but is not limited to, abuse based on: religion, colour, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation.”

A low-end sanction is a six-week ban. The maximum is a full year out of the game.

A potentially major issue for South Africa is that Mbonambi is their only specialist hooker in the tournament. After Malcolm Marx left the squad due to injury several weeks ago, the Boks elected to bring in first-five Handre Pollard rather than replace like for like.

Deon Fourie, a converted loose forward who has limited experience as a hooker at the top level, covered the position at the weekend but took the pitch as a replacement for No.8 Duane Vermeulen.

Should Mbonambi, who played the full 80 minutes against England, be ruled out, Fourie will have to wear the No.2 jersey, with another converted loose forward-turned-hooker, Marco van Staden, covering him on the bench.

Under tournament rules, banned players cannot be replaced from outside the squad.

South Africa assistant coach Daan Human today said he didn’t want to comment on Curry’s allegation or World Rugby’s investigation.

Source: TVNZ