“I heard what I heard.”

England flanker Tom Curry has doubled down on his accusation that Springboks hooker Bongi Mbonambi racially abused him at the Rugby World Cup, claiming that it occurred while the ball was out of play.

World Rugby investigated the incident, but the governing body found that there was “insufficient evidence” to back up the England flanker’s claim that he was called a “white c**t” by Mbonambi midway through the first half of their semi-final clash.

Mbonambi slammed Curry earlier this week, deeming him unprofessional, claiming that the England flanker misinterpreted him as he was in fact speaking Afrikaans.

“I think it is a very sad thing when you live in a first-world country, you think the rest of the world speaks English,” Mbonambi told BBC Sport Africa earlier this week

“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.”

But Curry has refused to back down on his claim, stating “I heard what I heard” in an interview with the Daily Mail.

“I didn’t really want to speak about it from the start,” Curry said.

“For me, on both occasions, the ball was out of play. Me and Bongi were talking and there’s no misunderstanding from my part. I went to the referee straight away. I heard what I heard. That’s all I really want to say about it and I won’t really be talking about it again.

“It was tough for my family, my girlfriend and my brother. It was a tough experience but it is what it is. The investigation’s been done and that’s all I want to say about it.”