Carl Fearns' brilliant Tweet after being 'kissed on the lips' three times by opposite number

Rugby is a game of physicality, but it’s also a game of psychological one-up-manship.

Players will and do go to extraordinary lengths to unsettle or discombobulate the opposing team. The French leagues are particularly known for such practices.

The darker side of this area of the game can lead to players grabbing more sensitive parts of the body or even resorting to the foul act of eye-gouging, a black mark on the game that is still to be entirely routed out of the game in France.

However, psychological one-up-manship can lead to more light-hearted moments, as alluded to by Carl Fearns on Twitter this morning. Lyon played Agen and it turned out to be a passionate affair in more ways than one.

The 6’3, 122kg Number Eight tweeted: “The Agen 8 kissed me on the lips three times last night. He Obviously has impeccable taste in men.”

https://twitter.com/Carl_Fearns/status/1122416333851906048

The number eight in question was Antione Miquel, Agen’s captain. The much-fancied backrow’s attention to Fearns didn’t seem to knock his own game, with the 24-year-old scoring a try in what ended up a 25-15 win for the home side at Stade Armandie.

63' ESSAIIIIIIIII ! Le capitaine Antoine Miquel à la conclusion de ce bon travail des avants ! 18-3#SUALOU #J23TOP14 pic.twitter.com/RJ5S828pxW

— Agen Rugby – SUA LG (@agen_rugby) April 27, 2019

It’s clear Fearns saw the funny side of the attention, as did his followers on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/wigelz/status/1122432821749002240
https://twitter.com/Gonza1509/status/1122423802376400896
https://twitter.com/LoosestThe/status/1122445423665242113

Born in Liverpool, Fearns rose through the ranks at Sale Sharks and captained England at Under-18 level and was part of the Under-20s which reached the 2009 IRB Junior World Championship final.

Fearns left Bath in 2015 after four years with the club, as a path to English national side seemed increasingly unlikely. Having settled in Lyon, he hasn’t looked back since. Such is his love of France, he has since declared his interest in playing for his newly adopted country.