Italy coach Cameron Ciraldo says two players who fought each other in a Cairns nightclub on Sunday shook hands and made up the next day – but admits he's powerless to stop World Cup organisers taking action against them.
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New Sydney Roosters signing James Tedesco and Huddersfield prop Shannon Wakeman will front an Italian disciplinary hearing on Wednesday after being involved in a fight at Pier Bar in Cairns following their 36-12 loss to Ireland at Barlow Park.
A Dapto junior, Wakeman was reportedly angry about Tedesco's behaviour towards the Super League prop's girlfriend.
The NRL integrity unit, whose services have been sub-contracted to the World Cup, are also investigating. Both players are a part of the squad named to meet the United States at Townsville Stadium on Sunday.
"There was a misunderstanding," Ciraldo told Fairfax Media.
"It's something we've moved to get past – in fact the two of them got past it the next morning, they shook hands and Shannon apologised.
“Shannon spent some time with his girlfriend and now he's returning to camp. We are going to have our own disciplinary meeting to decide what should happen. If the World Cup wants to come in and do something on top of that, there's not much we can do."
Ciraldo said he wasn't with his players at the time of the incident but disputes it amounted to "a wild brawl".
"I haven't seen the CCTV footage and that might change my view but it's not my understanding of what happened," he said.
"Once this incident occurred, a number of teammates came in and tried to break things up as quickly as possible and as I understand that's what happened.
"We've got so many injuries that we just put in the same squad we had last week. We'll work out what we want to do from a disciplinary point of view, assess our injuries and pick a team from there."