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Thursday

12:00

International

Post-match scuffle between England and Los Pumas spills into tunnel

By Ian Cameron

14 days ago

Players clash on the final whistle of the Autumn Nations Series international rugby union match between England and Argentina at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, in south-west London, on November 23, 2025. England won the game 27-23. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP via Getty Images)

A bad-tempered finish to England’s narrow 27-23 win over Argentina boiled over after the final whistle as tempers flared between players from both sides in an ugly melee.

England just about held on for a rousing win after dominating for large parts of their final Autumn Nations Series contest, repelling a late Argentinian comeback that echoed the vistitors’ remarkable win over Scotland a week earlier in Murrayfield.

The tension of a match that went down to the wire carried straight after the final whistle.

The confrontation appeared to spill over from the pitch and into the Twickenham tunnel after officials brought an end to the initial brouhaha.

VIDEO

What began as a brief bout of pushing near halfway escalated with Tom Curry and Henry Pollock involved from the English side, drawing in several Argentina forwards as frustrations from a bruising contest finally snapped.

Pollock and Los Pumas flanker Juan Martín González Grondona were seen shoving each other in the immediate aftermath, the pair jostling as teammates tried to drag them away from the growing scuffle.

The flashpoint appears rooted in the collision that forced Juan Cruz Mallía from the field late on.

Curry’s questionable hit ended the fullback’s night, but despite heated protests from Los Pumas, no card was shown.

I can see why the Argentinians feel hard done by, Curry knows what he’s doing pic.twitter.com/Wyj6V3FFlM
— Andy Goode (@AndyGoode10) November 23, 2025

Felipe Contepomi’s side were then forced to finish with 14 men as a result.

Curry – the villain of the piece for the Argies – looked particularly aggrieved as he walked off from the initial round of handbag, pushing past unused replacement Marcus Smith as the Harlequins player tried to console him.

Television cameras then caught skipper Maro Itoje sprinting back towards the tunnel entrance as the melee continued off-screen, with stewards and backroom staff rushing in to separate players.

It looked like the Sale Sharks back-row continued to get involved further down the tunnel away from the cameras as he made his way to the changing rooms. Although it’s unclear how the tunnel incident played out, RugbyPass understands that Curry and Contepomi were involved in a physical altercation.

Tunnel scraps aren’t exactly rare in rugby, with Owen Farrell and Scotland’s Ryan Wilson clashing before England’s Calcutta Cup defeat in 2018, and Johnny Sexton becoming embroiled in a heated post-match argument with Ronan O’Gara in the tunnel after Leinster’s Heineken Champions Cup final loss to La Rochelle in 2023.

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Comments

11 Comments

GodOfFriedChicken 14 days ago

Unsurprising from Tom Curry, aka the same guy that made a mountain of a molehill because he can’t speak Afrikaans and thought he was being racially abused. You’d think most normal people would take the hint and leave it but he seems to feel entitled to the attention.

cw 14 days ago

Yes and he has form - his early hit on Lynagh in the Lions tour should have been carded, but he literally laughed it off. He needs to be brought into line - hopefully that will happen soon.

cw 14 days ago

Late hits on unprotected players who are clearly going to release or kick the ball should be yellow carded. It’s dangerous and I am sick and tied of experienced flankers who tend to be 10kg + bigger than their target saying they got their timing slightly off. That BS. The rule is clear - tackling without the ball is illegal. If not 100% certain, back off. I accept there may be cases where there is no clear line of sight to the player and or the player is collected just after he passes it. But Curry must have known the ball was going to be kicked and Mallia was defenceless. Even league has had enough of this BS.

GodOfFriedChicken 14 days ago

Reminds me a bit of the NFL rule about “running into” and “roughing” the kicker. Since kicker and punter are specialized positions (kickers normally being among the smallest players on the team), they only carry 1-2 options for per team, so they are given more protection than even quarterbacks. Any contact at all after the ball has left the kicker is a penalty but there is a distinction for whether it’s a minor “running into” penalty (5 yard) or a major “roughing” penalty (15 yard). Both are to encourage rushers to make an effort to avoid hitting the kicker but at least takes into account that it might be hard to avoid.

Essentially they broke it down as:

“running into” = either:

-hitting the kicking leg (because that’s the moving part that might be harder to predict).

-ends up under the kicker and makes it hard for them to put both feet down (i.e. deemed too close or potentially can injure).

“roughing” = either:

-unnecessary level of contact afterwards i.e. finishing your hit (players often try to hold up the kickers when they make body contact).

-hitting the plant leg (bigger risk of injury, especially ligament and tendon tears)

-the kicker is tackled (with a degree of force) after both their feet have hit the ground (because they are deemed to have finished the kick by that point).

Maybe worth adopting something similar in rugby - penalty for “running into” and cards of varying degrees for “roughing” depending on severity.

Ninjin 14 days ago

Moer hom Pablo!

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