Incident.

Former England centre Ben Te’o has finally broken the silence on his infamous bust-up with Mike Brown before last year’s Rugby World Cup.

The pair clashed while on a social night out during one of England’s World Cup camps and were both ultimately left out of the final 31-man squad that flew to Japan.

A month after the incident Brown made some comments that suggested he was not the one out of line.

“I’ll speak about it in my own time, but the people who are close to me know the details and that’s most important for me,” Brown said.

Speaking to former Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll on BT’s Lions Call, Te’o said that an injury to his calf also played a role in him missing out on the squad and that he didn’t think the incident with Brown was a big deal.

“It’s an interesting one [missing out on World Cup selection],” Te’o said.

“Obviously there was a bonding session and an incident that happened. I’m not too sure whether that’s the reason or whether that’s not the reason. What happened was I went into the World Cup and I had picked up a calf tear early in the World Cup camp. I was doing a lot of rehab and I wasn’t running and was probably falling a little bit behind.

“Then we had an incident with a teammate [Brown] on a bonding session. Eddie rang me up and said he wasn’t going to take me to the World Cup. He was pretty upset with me.

"There was a bonding session, and an incident had happened…"

"Eddie rang me up and said he wasn't gonna take me."

Ben Te'o tells @BrianODriscoll the circumstances around his omission from England's 2019 World Cup Squad.#LionsCall pic.twitter.com/C9nFeQ8bOJ

— Rugby on BT Sport (@btsportrugby) July 19, 2020

“We actually got along fine [he and Mike Brown]. Sometimes things happen and guys have too many drinks.

“To be honest, I don’t think it was that big of a deal. When I woke up in the ­morning I didn’t think it was that big of a deal.

“But obviously for some people, maybe a leadership group or something along those lines, maybe it was a big deal to them?

“I can’t really change who I am, and the way I am sometimes. You take the good with the bad.”