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Carl Fearns secures third-tier deal in France to prolong his career
One-time England prospect Carl Fearns has secured a deal to prolong his career back in France following his end-of-season release by Newcastle. The uncapped 34-year-old back row, who toured South Africa under Stuart Lancaster in 2012, initially moved across the Channel in 2015 where he helped to establish Lyon as a Top 14 club before heading back to England in 2021 following a season at second-tier Rouen.
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He is now exploring life in the French third tier following an agreement on a one-year deal to join Carcassonne. They were relegated at the end of last season following their 15th-place finish in the 16-team Pro D2 and Fearns is the 22nd arrival at a club that reportedly had 36 off-season departures.
Carcassonne open their new Nationale campaign on August 26 away to Bressane and Fears has joined with immediate effect following a summer where his ticking-over activities included training recently with Consett, the centenary-celebrating Regional 2 North club in the English grassroots.
Fearns tweeted on July 11: “Went for a run (jog) about with the Consett RFC lads tonight. Great group of lads. Good luck for the season.”
Six days later, he was retweeting the announcement by Carcassonne that he had signed with them for the 2023/24 season in France. A club statement on Monday read: “Very experienced Carl Fearns, a back row of 34 years, arrives straight from Newcastle and commits one year to Carcassonne.
📡 TRANSFERT 📡
Carl Fearns, troisième ligne de 34 ans, arrive tout droit de Newcastle et s’engage pour 1 an à Carcassonne.
Welcome Carl ! 🟡⚫️
➕ d’infos : https://t.co/acWraVIG7b#DéfendreNotreCité ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/TRC07FU7l6
— US Carcassonne⚔ (@us_carcassonne) July 17, 2023
“Born in Liverpool, Carl arrived in France in 2015 where he joined LOU rugby until 2020 and then Rouen Normandie Rugby during the 2020/2021 season. A Newcastle Falcons player since 2021, with whom he played 29 games, Carl will bring all his power and experience to the Yellow & Black group. Welcome Carl!”
Fearns originally made his Premiership breakthrough at Sale in 2008, moving on to Bath in 2011 where his final appearance for them came off the bench in their 2015 Premiership final loss to Saracens at Twickenham.
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Comments on RugbyPass
Let’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
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