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Makazole Mapimpi goes viral after putting Nic White in his place

By Josh Raisey
Makazole Mapimpi of South Africa points during the Rugby International Test Match between Australia Wallabies and South Africa at Allianz Stadium on September 03, 2022 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Steven Markham/Icon Sportswire)

Few people would have blamed any South Africa players for being slightly irked by Australia scrum-half Nic White this past week after his now-famous theatrics at the Adelaide Oval in round three of the Rugby Championship.

White managed to get his opposite man Faf de Klerk yellow carded with his acting, but paid a heavy price after finding himself the object of the scorn of plenty of former players and pundits this week.

Come the 60th minute of South Africa's second Test against the Wallabies at the Allianz Stadium, the Springboks appeared to be tired of the No9's shenanigans, with Makazole Mapimpi launching a verbal tirade at his opponent. After referee Ben O'Keeffe awarded an offside penalty to the Springboks in the final 20 minutes of the match, White obviously decided to voice his opinion on the decision. However, he was swiftly dismissed by the Bok winger, who repeatedly shouted across the referee telling White to shut up.

The video of this incident has since gone viral online:

This of course was not the only time Mapimpi's emotions boiled over in Sydney, as he confronted Wallabies winger Marika Koroibete on 72 minutes after scoring the Boks' final try of the match, which resulted in a brouhaha between the two sides and a yellow card for the winger.

The win put South Africa right back in the hunt for the Rugby Championship, where they sit tied on nine points with Australia and Argentina, one point behind leaders the All Blacks. They now face back to back matches against the Pumas in Buenos Aires and Durban.

Looking ahead to the two matches, Springboks captain Siya Kolisi said: “They are going to be tough, so we know we have two challenging games ahead. We’ll enjoy tonight and then and then turn our focus to those clashes in the week.”