England vs Argentina live: Tom Curry accused of shoving Pumas coach after hosts win

There was a match on at Twickenham, too, as England made it 11 wins in a row to close the year as they held off a ferocious comeback from Argentina.

Here’s Harry Latham-Coyle’s report:

England head coach Steve Borthwick leapt to Tom Curry’s defence but insisted he had no knowledge of the details of what happened in the tunnel.

“Tom Curry’s character is impeccable. He’s a fantastic team man, a very respectful guy. His character is unquestionable,” Borthwick said.

“As for the incident in the tunnel, clearly I’m aware there was an incident. I didn’t see it, I wasn’t there, I was in the changing room at the time.

“I wouldn’t want that, in any instance, to be the centre of attention of what was a tough, hard Test match where two teams really went at it for the afternoon and that’s all I’ve got to say really about it.”

Contepomi left the coach’s box to protest at the challenge and at the final whistle a huge scuffle erupted between the teams that then extended to the Argentina boss’ flashpoint with Curry.

“Curry, let me say, it is probably part of his nature to bully people. He came into the tunnel and he gave me a little smack. He is 27, strong. I am 48,” Contepomi said.

“I was standing there. He was coming to say ‘hi’ to one of our coaches (Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe), but Fernandez said ‘no, no’ because we were upset because he was reckless and broke our player’s knee.

“When he came I said ‘mate, you broke his knee’, he said ‘f*** off’ and pushed me. Maybe that’s the way he is. I don’t know him. I’m not happy with the situation.

“After breaking someone’s knee you need to be at least humble enough and respectful to say sorry I did something wrong. But he went the opposite.

“Maybe it’s his way of being a bully. If we want bullies in this game, good on them. I know it’s rugby, but if we don’t look after each other in rugby, it could be dangerous.”

Argentina head coach Felipe Contepomi described Tom Curry as a “bully” and accused the England flanker of shoving him during an expletive-filled tunnel bust up after Sunday’s 27-23 defeat at Allianz Stadium.

The Pumas were incensed by Curry’s 75th-minute tackle on Juan Cruz Mallia that forced the full-back to leave the field with a suspected ACL knee injury and meant his side finished the match with 14 men.

Curry’s challenge was punished with a penalty but not referred to the television match official.

“Clearly, I am aware there was an incident. I didn’t see it, I wasn’t there, I was in the changing room at the time. I wouldn’t want any incident like that to be the centre of attention of what was a tough, hard Test match where two teams really went at it.

“I think that anybody in this room that has any contact with Tom Curry knows his character is impeccable. He is a fantastic team man and a respectable guy.”

Extraordinary news here at Twickenham - Tom Curry has been accused of shoving Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi in the tunnel:

"I understand what my role is and I was waiting to take it onto the field today. I gave a lot of energy in the week, and I’m glad I got to bring it to the field,” England centre Max Ojomoh tells TNT Sport.

"I had Fordy with 100 caps inside me, Sladey with 70 caps outside me, I had a plethora of experience around me, I just needed to lean on them when I needed to."

“I think the back row is the most competitive position in world rugby, I’m just trying to perform, learn from the guys, I enjoyed my Autumn,” Earl adds in a chat with TNT Sports.

“It’s sort of, one of the last few years, when Danny Care was involved, it’s the time of our careers, it’s a group I thoroughly enjoy working with.

“It’s a credit to Steve, it doesn’t just happen overnight. We’ve had tough conversations. We’re bonding. It’s worked out really well. We had our celebration last weekend, a few would have seen it. The nature of the Autumn is some boys have to play next Friday. We’ll go our separate ways, we’ll review, decompress and catch up at the right time.”

"The expectation is that we grow, winning games breeds confidence, Six Nations is the next one, we have a hard way of doing it, with three away games, we want to win trophies,” Ben Earl tells TNT Sports.

“Rugby, domestic, in England, it gets a bad rap, but he has performed, the league is breeding good international players.

“He [Ojomoh] has been doing that all campaign, I’d love to know the score between the team that’s playing and the team that’s not, it’d be pretty close.”

There was a scuffle at the end there, with Henry Pollock rattling Santiago Grondona, which will not come as much of a surprise.

Tom Curry was involved too, an it appeared as if Pollock ventured over to defend his teammate.

Max Ojomoh denied he was involved, claiming he was too tired to bother with the late drama after the final whistle.