The Rugby Football Union has confirmed that there was a training-ground incident between Danny Cipriani and Mike Catt in August.
The "robust conversation" between England player and coach, which the RFU say was resolved quickly, occurred just hours after Cipriani had been informed that he was not part of Stuart Lancaster's squad of 31 for the Rugby World Cup.
An RFU spokesman said: "Danny and Mike were involved in a robust conversation on the training pitch following a misunderstanding around a training drill instruction.
"Both shook hands afterwards and the incident played no bearing on selection."
England are already out of the World Cup following successive group-stage losses to Wales and Australia. They finish their Pool A campaign against Uruguay in Manchester on Saturday.
