No hard feelings between Wallabies duo

Wallabies skipper Stephen Moore says he won’t hold a grudge against Test teammate Adam Coleman after the pair nearly came to blows on the weekend.

Moore and Coleman will both be named in Australia coach Michael Cheika’s 33-man squad on Tuesday evening for June’s trio of Tests against Fiji, Scotland and Italy.

But they had to be separated late in Friday night’s clash between the Queensland Reds and the Western Force after a sledge from Coleman appeared to get right under Moore’s skin.

The 34-year-old hooker could be seen mouthing “don’t you f****** say that again” as he leapt to his feet to remonstrate twice with Coleman, who declined to reveal after the match what had been said.

Come day one of Wallabies camp, however, and Moore insists it will all be forgotten.

“It’ll be fine. I’m sure we’ll have a joke about it,” Moore told AAP.

“There will be nothing carried over there, I’m a firm believer in that.

“You just leave it out there and everyone gives what they’ve got.

“Both teams play the game right on the boundaries and that’s what you want.”

If anything, Moore said the incident showed why the abrasive, aggressive Coleman – arguably the form lock in Australian rugby – is such an important player for the Wallabies.

“That’s the power of those local derbies,” he said.

“When you go toe-to-toe in those games, you carry that forward into the Wallabies and you feel like you’ve got players around you that are going to get stuck in.

“That’s what we need. That physical part of it is absolutely key.

“You look at the teams we’re playing in June and it’s going to be really important that we front up in that area.”

Australian sides have had a woeful season in Super Rugby and Moore said it was incumbent on the Test side to improve the mood across the country.

“The opportunity for us, in what has been a tough year so far at a provincial level, is for the best players to come together and combine and do something special and worthwhile,” he said.

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