England star Danny Cipriani has reportedly been on the receiving end of an old fashion beating after allegedly getting into a confrontation with London Wasps teammate Josh Lewsey.

While Wasps have confirmed that there was an incident they have played down suggestions that it was anything more than a usual training ground incident.

UK publication, the Mirror had reported that a confrontation took place at a training session and ultimately resulted in the 20 year-old England international needed treatment for a bloody nose and a cut lip.

The two stars reportedly got into it during a training session after the fullback had criticized his teammates poor defensive work and the young gun took exception to his remarks, supposedly telling the 31-year-old to "shut up or be shut up."

Following Cipriani’s apparent challenge to Lewsey the two, according to speculation, became involved in a play-ground style shoving matchup before Lewsey finally decided enough was enough and hit his young teammate with a right hook.

Wasps communication manager Laura Brown, speaking to Sportinglife.com, dismissed any ideas of a serious conflict and said the entire issue had been blown out of proportion and that preparation for the weekend's match continues as per normal.

"Rugby is a physical game and nothing happened that was out of the ordinary. Everyone is fine and both players will be involved in training today.

"The incident has been taken out of context."

A team spokesmen also seemed to have been reading the same scripts and has moved to quickly quash any ideas that there is trouble in the Wasps camp.

"Rugby is a fiery and physical game and incidents like this happen in training sessions all the time.

"There is no issue and there is no problem between Danny and Josh. They are friends and team-mates."

Cipriani of course has quickly established himself as the darling of English rugby and, since beginning an off-field romance with model Kelly Brook, has become a household name for more than just his rugby playing ability.

While training bust-ups are not a rare thing in rugby they are a not something which one typically associates with the London Wasps squad and, particularly given Cipriani’s growing media persona, it would seem some still, despite the clubs best efforts to deny it, tensions have begun to build-up at the struggling Guinness Premiership Champions.

365