Star players were cleared but questions left unanswered as the Wallabies November tango in Paris turned from a drama into a mystery on Tuesday.
The Australian Rugby Union found no grounds to take action following inquiries into explosive allegations of a drunken fight on tour between close friends Quade Cooper, Kurtley Beale and the already-banned James O’Connor.
Wallabies coach Robbie Deans believed his exciting backline trio had been unfairly maligned by the claims, which he said were nonsense.
Cooper and Beale twice fronted the media on Tuesday to squash the rumours but it remains unclear what occurred four days before the 56-19 thrashing of France in Paris in November last year.
The duo admitted there had been a disagreement in Paris, but nothing sinister and just a case of boys being boys and not always seeing eye to eye.
However, the nature of the disagreement will remain a complete mystery as all three dodged the chance to fill in the blanks.
Beale, who was pictured with a black eye in the lead up to the record Test win at Stade Francais, flatly denied there was a physical altercation, as did Cooper.
None directly answered questions of what actually happened, what the nature of the disagreement was and where it took place.
“We wouldn’t be sitting here as best mates if there was any issues,” five-eighth Cooper said.
“Reports have claimed the trio were fined in-house by fellow players, as Wallabies coaches and support staff were not told anything about the alleged incident.
Team manager Bob Egerton on Tuesday said he was unaware of any incident and, if there had been, Beale, Cooper and O’Connor were as tight as ever in the days afterwards.
Deans said: “There’s been a lot of suggestions that are just fallacy. Some of the suggestions are pretty grave, whether it be police or fines. Where that comes from, I don’t know. It was a typical Test week. These blokes have told you they had a disagreement, it wasn’t of a significant nature. They had an argument, as people who are close do.
“Beyond that, there was nothing.”
Beale suspected the allegations had been raised by people looking to undermine the Wallabies at this special time.
“They have taken the focus away from the Wallabies’ chance to end a 10-year Tri Nations drought at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night with a win over the All Blacks, which would also provide great momentum heading into next month’s World Cup.
But New Zealand coach Graham Henry felt the controversy wouldn’t derail Australia, and could actually galvanise their squad.
“A bit of controversy pulls people together and gives them a bit of an edge,” he said.
Henry backed the ARU for standing down O’Connor for his failing to attend last week’s World Cup announcement after a night on the town.
“I think it’s been done well,” he said.
“He’s (O’Connor) got a responsibility because he’s in that situation. I think it’s how people respond from those situations and I’m sure he’ll respond very well.”
Deans made three changes to his starting team with low-tackling Queensland centre Anthony Faingaa the most notable as he gets his chance following O’Connor’s ban.
Adam Ashley-Cooper has been moved from the midfield to the wing in the backline reshuffle, while lock Dan Vickerman and No.8 Radike Samo come into the starting pack.
© AAP 2012Recommend this story.
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- James OConnor, Kurtley Beale, Quade Cooper, Rugby Union, Rugby World Cup, wallabies
August 24th 2011 @ 6:36am
Ash said | August 24th 2011 @ 6:36am | Report comment
Who cares, lets move on. Otherwise we are playing into the enemy’s hands.
August 24th 2011 @ 7:21am
jus de couchon said | August 24th 2011 @ 7:21am | Report comment
It would appear our Southern Hemisphere colleagues beleive that brawling is a bonding exercise. Hate to think what they do when they dont like someone.
August 24th 2011 @ 8:21am
jeremy said | August 24th 2011 @ 8:21am | Report comment
Ask Matt Giteau
August 24th 2011 @ 9:14am
AdamS said | August 24th 2011 @ 9:14am | Report comment
Not like that “bonding” you got from Sir and the Old Boys at Eton hey Jus?
That made a right proper man of you I bet..
August 24th 2011 @ 8:14am
levelheaded said | August 24th 2011 @ 8:14am | Report comment
Who cares, what a disgrace, where are the media at?
August 24th 2011 @ 9:24am
THardy said | August 24th 2011 @ 9:24am | Report comment
Jim – is your surname the Irish pronunciation with the silent “t”?
There’s a few journos out there who rarely get to go out on the town who sadly want to get their jollies listening to the escapades of those of us normals who do.
August 24th 2011 @ 9:40am
Cicero said | August 24th 2011 @ 9:40am | Report comment
For all the explosive allegations, ruined campaigns and hopes in tatters described in Mr Morton’s piece from yesterday it all seems to have fizzled out pretty quickly. Thank god we can all sleep safely now.. until of course Mr Morton’s next piece of ‘shocking, scandalous, world collapsing’ non event story arrives.
August 24th 2011 @ 10:34am
Behind Enemy Lines said | August 24th 2011 @ 10:34am | Report comment
Seriously…again? No one cares if two blokes had a disagreement. Perhaps we can save people the trouble and just link to the 75 comments left yesterday which almost all told you this story was rubbish and should be ignored
http://www.theroar.com.au/2011/08/23/wallabies-rugby-world-cup-plans-in-tatters/#comments
August 24th 2011 @ 12:08pm
Crazy Horse said | August 24th 2011 @ 12:08pm | Report comment
Go and read The trashy magazines. They are only half grown boys. No one cares about boys being boys nearly a year ago.
August 24th 2011 @ 1:00pm
Snobby Deans said | August 24th 2011 @ 1:00pm | Report comment
If it was “nothing” and “boys being boys”, why were they fined their match fees for the French test. Seems that where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
Players being fined for food fights, smashing taxis in Sth Africa, Cooper getting caught in a strangers house with their laptop in the early hours, disagreements that aren’t disagreements . . . . makes for good reading, I guess
August 24th 2011 @ 1:05pm
Chris said | August 24th 2011 @ 1:05pm | Report comment
And yet again, it’s the lack of discipline enforcement that is the real problem. Why do players continue to break the rules? Because they escape with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. And often not even that.
Should be a case of: the first time you get a warning, the second time you get a harsh fine and suspension, and the third time you get sacked. That would sort them out quick smart.
August 24th 2011 @ 1:54pm
Blinky Bill of Bellingen said | August 24th 2011 @ 1:54pm | Report comment
Articles like this remind me of a scuffle in back play while the game is playing on.
It’s not important, forget about it and let’s get back to playing Rugby.
August 24th 2011 @ 6:58pm
Matthew Skellett said | August 24th 2011 @ 6:58pm | Report comment
F@#k !!! your “brand’ Mr O’Connor , either perform 100% for your country or get the f@#k out !!!!!!!