Bongi Mbonambi has accused England of being “unprofessional” after the Springbok hooker was cleared of racially abusing Tom Curry during the World Cup.

World Rugby found “insufficient evidence” to back up Curry’s claim that he was called a “white (followed by an expletive)” by Mbonambi in South Africa’s semi-final victory in Paris in October.

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Mbonambi said the incident arose because Curry failed to realise he was speaking Afrikaans, a common practice among the Springboks to ensure opponents do not understand their messages.

“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,” Mbonambi told BBC Sport Africa.

“It was unprofessional on their part. They could have gone on a website and looked for an English dictionary and looked for the word in Afrikaans.

“People understood [in South Africa] but obviously their side was misunderstood.

“I’m glad it was well taken care of [by World Rugby] and that is all in the past now,” Mbonambi added. “But I have never racially swore at him.”

World Rugby stressed that Curry made the allegation in good faith and added there was no suggestion that it was “deliberately false or malicious”.

© Agence France-Presse

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