'Knows what he's doing': England 'bully' accused of low act as serious injury confirmed for Argentina star

Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi accused England flanker Tom Curry of hitting him in the tunnel after England beat his side 27-23 on Monday (AEDT), calling him a bully and slamming his "reckless" tackle that took Juan Cruz Mallia out of the game.

Curry hit Mallia just after he launched a long kick out of defence five minutes from time and the fullback suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury to his right knee.

"I don't know where to start with it," Contepomi told journalists.

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"Slightly late? I would call it reckless... I cannot understand how we ended up playing with 14, they ended up with 15 and it was not even checked out."

He added further criticism of the England flanker.

"Let me say, it is not only that because probably it is part of his nature to bully people. But he came off in the tunnel and he gave me a little smack," he said.

Asked to clarify, he agreed with a journalist that it was a push, and then called it a "hit on the chest."

"So maybe it is his nature I don't know. Probably those are the guys we are rewarding and we praise. Maybe that's where we want rugby to go, I don't know," he said.

"How old is he, 27, strong and I am 48 and he comes and just hit me. Luckily there are probably cameras there.

"I was standing there 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's knee. I know it is rugby but if we don't look after each other in rugby it could be dangerous.

"He was coming and I said 'mate, you broke his knee' and he said 'f--- off' and pushed me.

"I am not happy with the situation, after breaking someone's knee I think you need to be at least humble enough and respectful to say 'sorry I did something wrong' but he went the opposite."

England coach Steve Borthwick said he was aware that something had happened, but had not seen it.

"I wouldn't want that in any instance to be the centre of attention," he said.

"I think that anybody in this room who has had any contact with Tom Curry knows the character of the man - his character is impeccable."

England centre Henry Slade also gave his support to Curry.

"He is the furthest thing from a bully I have ever seen," he said.

"He's such a genuine, genuine guy who cares a lot about everyone, a very tough guy but I wouldn't say he's anywhere near being a bully at all."

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French Top 14 club Toulouse said Mallia would undergo further tests to determine the extent of his injury.

Former England fly-half Andy Goode shared a video of the incident on X with a caption questioning Curry's actions.

"I can see why the Argentinians feel hard done by, Curry knows what he's doing," Goode wrote.

- with Sam Worthington