Rugby WA has strongly denied there is a rift between senior Western Force players and coach John Mitchell after a New Zealand newspaper reported star flyhalf Matt Giteau and captain Nathan Sharpe were at war with the coach and on the brink of cutting ties with the club.
The Sunday News reported that Giteau was sick of Mitchell's ways and was weighing up a return to the Brumbies, while the article also suggested Sharpe was desperate to escape the former All Blacks coach.
The article quoted an unnamed source as saying "Giteau hates Mitchell" and that there was "quite an anti-Mitchell sentiment among some of the players, they're sick of him".
The paper also quoted the source as saying: "Mitchell talks it up very well and he impresses people when he meets them but then he starts his (mind) games and that tends to put people off.
"The longer he's at an organisation, the more bad sentiments come towards him.
"It's got to the point now where some players don't even listen to him."
However, Rugby WA chief executive Greg Harris rejected claims of a player revolt.
"We were surprised by the story that appeared in the Sunday News in relation to supposed player unrest at the Western Force," Harris said in a prepared statement.
"Rugby WA strongly dismisses these claims after speaking to John Mitchell and the two senior players named in the story today.
"John has just returned from a successful development tour of England with the Western Force squad and has not been in contact with our Wallaby representative players since prior to the tour.
"The report appears quite mischievous and can be very damaging for the organisation and the individuals involved and has to be taken seriously.
"We are completely satisfied that we have no such issue in our team."
Mitchell was sacked as All Blacks coach following his side's semi-final exit to Australia at the 2003 World Cup.
