Australian pair face judicial
review over Test brawl

An international video review panel will decide on Monday whether Australian second rower Craig Fitzgibbon and prop Mark O'Meley have cases to answer over an incident which sparked a wild brawl in Sunday's Tri-Nations rugby league test.

Fitzgibbon was involved in an altercation with Great Britain lock Paul Sculthorpe in the 78th minute of the Lions' 24-12 victory at Wigan's JJB Stadium amid claims the Sydney Roosters second-rower had dropped a forearm on his opponent.

The pair then traded punches before O'Meley became involved.

The entire incident was placed on report by referee Glen Black and will be reviewed by a video review panel on Monday.

That panel will include an Australian representative, likely to be either ARL chief executive Geoff Carr or ARL board member John McDonald.

"It's nothing," Fitzgibbon said.

"It's certainly not what I'm going to be thinking about when I go to bed tonight."

The Australian team leaves for Paris on Monday to begin preparing for their test against France at Toulouse next weekend.

Carr said it was unlikely either player would be flown back if the panel decided they had a case to answer.

"It's not going to worry me in the least," coach Wayne Bennett said.

"We'll be in France on Monday. I thought that was supposed to be done after the game personally."

Great Britain coach Brian Noble was equally dismissive of the incident.

"Handbags at 10 paces," Noble said when asked his opinion.

"Somebody threw a punch and somebody retaliated. I'll have to watch it closely because I didn't see it. It's not a concern for us to be honest."

If one or both of the Australians are charged, they will face a three-man international federation disciplinary panel comprised of an independent chairman with appropriate legal experience and a representative of each camp.

Meanwhile, even Australia's defeat couldn't wipe the smile off O'Meley's face as he began his international career with a storming try.

The Bulldogs forward charged onto a Brett Kimmorley pass in the 45th minute of tonight's game to score under the posts.

"I would have preferred to win rather than score a try," O'Meley said.

"The atmosphere and the crowd were awesome.

"It's certainly a different experience. A loss is always disappointing but it (his test debut) is something I want to remember for the rest of my life."

And the brawl?

"That always tops a game off," O'Meley said.