Wallaby stars play down brawl reports

Wallabies stars Quade Cooper and Kurtley Beale said Tuesday there was nothing "sinister" about reports of an altercation between them during last November's European tour. News reports Monday alleged the pair were involved in a fight along with teammate James O'Connor in the days before the Wallabies scored a record win over France in Paris. The alleged incident, on top of O'Connor's one-week ban Monday for missing last week's World Cup squad announcement, has overshadowed the build up to the Wallabies' Tri-Nations decider against New Zealand in Brisbane on Saturday. Cooper and Beale spoke with reporters before the Wallabies' morning training session in Brisbane Tuesday to play down the seriousness of the fighting reports. "We're here to squash the rumours that there was an incident between us and James O'Connor during the (European) tour but as you can see we're all best of mates again," fly-half Cooper said. "There's always going to be disagreements and stuff like that but in terms of anything sinister there's nothing going on. "It's boys being boys and that's what we're here for and that's to squash it and get it over with and get on with it. "We've got a massive game against the All Blacks this weekend and then it's the World Cup and that's where our focus is solely and we're not going to let anyone divert our attention from the job at hand." Cooper and Beale denied there was any police involvement but Beale suggested there was some sort of confrontation, although the pair did not go into detail before heading off to training. "We're good mates and you are always going to come eye to eye at one stage," said fullback Beale, who was pictured in a newspaper Tuesday showing a mark under his left eye as he lined up with the team before the kickoff to the French Test in Paris last November. "We have obviously got over it and we had a good win over France later that week," he said. "There was nothing to it. There's some rumours out there but that's the way it is and we can't do anything about it. "We've come here today just to tell everyone how it is and we've got a big game this weekend and that's all we want to focus on." The Australian Rugby Union said it is continuing to investigate the allegations, which have been widespread among the local media. Beale said he remained the best of friends with Cooper and the suspended O'Connor and suspected there were people looking to undermine the Wallabies' attempt to win their first Tri-Nations crown in a decade and next month's World Cup campaign in New Zealand. "I guess there's a lot of people out there that want to get us at this special time," he said.