Ben Earl admits to the time his celebrations became 'too much'

Ben Earl has made it quite clear that he is not going to stop with his renowned in-match celebrations.

The England and Saracens back-row is notorious for his energetic responses to penalties won and mistakes made by the opposition, and has faced a fair amount of ridicule for it. That ridicule has died down in recent months and he has doubled down on his behaviour.

With that said, the 26-year-old recently admitted that there was a time when his celebrations were “too much”.

Joining his former England team-mate Danny Care on the Hits Different podcast, the No 8 confessed that his reaction to Ireland’s not-straight throw in a 29-10 loss prior to the 2023 World Cup was perhaps over the top, but he has an explanation.

The moment in question saw Earl drop to his knee while pumping his fist after a crooked Irish throw, and he was subsequently lampooned online his his actions. But the 37-cap international has admitted that it was not “deliberate”.

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Discussing whether fans are wrong to hate in-game ‘over-celebrations’ in the ‘Debatable’ section of the podcast, both Earl and Care agreed that they have both a positive effect on a team doing it and irritate the opposition, although the scrum-half had some choice words about ‘whooping’. Earl explained why he does it, and will continue to do so.

“I’ve got one of the great fist-pumps of our time,” Earl said.

“The knee slide was too much. So let’s actually put some context on this, and it’s nice to have my face to the clip, it was an Ireland warm-up game and we’re getting absolutely hosed, we’re five metres from our line, we’re so up against it and they throw a not-straight, which was quite dubious, and I’ve gone for a split-stance fist-pump and my knee has completely caved in, hence why I’ve gone down.

“I’ve tried to ride it out by bringing the other one down as well, and then it’s gone viral. It wasn’t deliberate and I haven’t done it since.”