Coach faces tough call on Collins and Fa'atau

Hurricanes rugby coach Colin Cooper faces the tough decision on whether to drop two of his best players after a scuffle that continued a series of incidents involving New Zealand sports teams in South Africa.

All Blacks loose forward Jerry Collins and Samoa wing Lome Fa'atau were internally disciplined for fighting each other in a Bloemfontein nightclub on Sunday after their 25-27 Super 14 loss to the Cheetahs.

Team manager Garry Carnachan described their actions as "pretty stupid and not acceptable", and confirmed disciplinary action.

Cooper told The Dominion Post the incident was "disappointing".

"It was an issue between two players and it's not a big thing," he said.

He didn't rule out axing the pair for this weekend's Super 14 match against the Stormers in Cape Town.

A strict disciplinarian, Cooper dropped All Blacks Ma'a Nonu and Neemia Tialata for the Stormers match in Cape Town two years ago after an undisclosed incident.

"You'll have to wait and see. The team will be named on Friday," Cooper said.

The incident happened in the Pizaz nightclub, a regular haunt for prominent sportsmen in the city.

Pizzaz nightclub part-owner Bertus van der Nest, who witnessed the incident, told NZPA the pair later traded punches out on the street before their teammates intervened.

"They had an argument, I don't know why it happened," van der Nest said.

"Collins suddenly hit the smaller guy with his elbow then we stopped it. We held him back along with Trevor Leota, the Cheetahs player (and Fa'atau's Samoan international teammate)."

Van der Nest said there was no further incident inside the bar and no locals were involved.

But the fight between Collins and Fa'atau later continued outside when some of the Hurricanes players left the club.

"They left, and outside they had a fight and threw a few punches for maybe half a minute, before their guys came in and held them back," van der Nest said.

Despite the incident, van der Nest was adamant he would have New Zealand teams back in his bar in future.

"There was an argument but none of my business was affected or anything, you don't have to worry about that.

"They're lovely guys, I had a chat with a lot of them, they behaved themselves. It was just an argument between Collins and Fa'atau, that was all."

"No one else was involved and the matter has since been dealt with internally within the team, with both players dealt with under the team's protocols and code of conduct," Garry Carnachan said.

The incident was the latest of several to hit New Zealand teams in the republic in the past decade.

New Zealand cricketers Stephen Fleming, Dion Nash and Matthew Hart were suspended after owning up to smoking cannabis in Paarl on the 1994-95 tour.

Hurricanes winger Roger Randle was falsely accused of raping a woman in a Durban hotel in 1997 and was forced to return to face charges before they were dropped.

In 2002, members of the New Zealand Under-21 team were shot at as they fled a Johannesburg nightclub in a van after a dispute with patrons.

A year later New Zealand cricket allrounder Chris Cairns was felled by a punch outside a Durban nightclub during the World Cup after he and teammate Brendon McCullum were asked to leave.

The pair were fined $500 each for misconduct by New Zealand Cricket.

Last month, Wallabies and Waratahs winger Wendell Sailor was fined A$4000 ($4524) and suspended for a total of three rugby matches following his drinking episode at a Cape Town nightclub.

Sailor was sent home in disgrace after admitting pushing a man to the ground outside the nightclub and being sick in the street.

- NZPA