Springbok hooker Mbongeni Mbonambi. Photo: AFP
South Africa tried to dampen down the controversy around alleged discriminatory behaviour and verbal abuse by hooker Bongi Mbonambi, cutting off questions about World Rugby's investigation at a media conference.
World Rugby are formally reviewing the allegation that Mbonambi directed a racial slur at England's Tom Curry in their semi-final, where South Africa secured a 16-15 win to set up a final against New Zealand.
South Africa sent scrum coach Dan Human and two locks, Jean Kleyn and Marvin Orie, who are unlikely to feature in this weekend's decider at the Stade de France, to answer questions in today's media conference and none would be drawn on the allegations against Mbonambi.
Persistent questions about Mbonambi's character then were cut short but not before Human called the 32-year-old a key player for the Springboks.
"Bongani has been part of our squad for the last six years now and an important piece of our puzzle, he's very important to us. He's definitely one of the leaders. And a great, great guy, great family man, very humble guy down to earth. Very hard worker, like all the other players," he said.
"I have not been part of any discussions about this," Human added of the controversy.
"But he's a calm guy actually, a calm guy ... no, no, it's really not a big thing. I don't want to actually go into it because we've got a World Cup final in six days' time."
It was then that SA rugby officials stopped any more questions about Mbonambi.
Rugby's governing body said earlier: "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 semi-final on Saturday. World Rugby will not be making further comment until the conclusion of the process."
Mbongeni Mbonambi of South Africa with the ball during the World Cup semi-final against England. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
South African Rugby said on Monday they had launched their own internal investigation and that they were "reviewing the available evidence".
Audio and video footage posted on social media show Curry complaining to referee Ben O'Keeffe, although no action was taken and the alleged slur is not heard.
Curry confirmed an incident when questioned by reporters afterwards but refused to say what had allegedly been said.
England coach Steve Borthwick also refused to comment on the allegation after the game.
If found guilty Mbonambi could be suspended, which would be a huge blow to the Boks ahead of the final.
He is their only specialist hooker in the squad after they replaced the injured Malcolm Marx with first five-eighth Handre Pollard, who kicked the winning penalty against England.
Regular loose forwards Deon Fourie and Marco van Staden are the other hooker options in the squad, but it would be a tall order to ask them to scrum for 80 minutes against a pack as accomplished as New Zealand's.
-Reuters