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'I was that drunk I didn't notice I was in a fire': Carl Fearns recounts crazy first week at Lyon and also revisits infamous Bath pub bust-up with Gavin Henson
New Newcastle signing Carl Fearns has lifted the lid on his crazy first week in France at Lyon in 2015, a caper where he crashed his car on his first day and then fell into a fire that weekend, while he has also revisited the infamous bust-up that left Gavin Henson knocked out during a team bonding night in Bath in 2013.
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The soon-to-be 32-year-old Fears joined the Falcons with immediate effect last week on a two-year deal taking him through to summer 2023.
Despite an eventful first weekend with Newcastle, which ended in a team social that resulted in Fearns losing his phone while doing some wrestling, the back row still managed to fulfil an arranged interview with The Rugby Pod that was immensely entertaining.
Aside from outlining why he was a success at Lyon before moving on to Pro D2 outfit Rouen, Fearns also recounted some of the field capers he has been involved in during a career that began with a 2008/09 first-team breakthrough at Sale.
Asked why he was a success in France, a country where numerous foreign players fail to shine, Fearns told co-hosts Andy Goode and Jim Hamilton: “When I left the Premiership I had ten years of doing the same thing really and I just wanted something different.
Quality chat with @CarlFearns about life in France, crashing cars, setting himself on fire, that bust up with Gav Henson and caaamming home.
Listen – https://t.co/5GyVDimjvW pic.twitter.com/QGFKKWi347
— The Rugby Pod (@TheRugbyPod) April 27, 2021
“I just jumped into it and that is why I went so well because a lot of the foreign guys who go over there tend to want to complain about things and want to change things whereas I just went over and dived straight into it and embraced everything about it and tried to given everything that I could and I got so much back from that.”
Fearns admitted he was fortunate that this was the case, though. A pranged car got life in Lyon off to an unfortunate start and his first week at the club then became far worse when he suffered burns while drunk, delaying his debut for a few months.
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“I crashed my car,” he said, remembering his first day at the club. “Being on the wrong side of the car your perception of where cars are is a bit off so I crashed into a parked car on the first day. And then at the end of that week… we had a few drinks in pretty much a forest in the middle of nowhere.
“The lads set up a huge fire and I have had too much to drink, got up and tripped over this branch and fell right in the middle of the fire. I was that drunk I didn’t notice I was in a fire. One of the boys picked me out of the fire and then our full-back at the time was a doctor and he said just go and sit in the river.
“So I was just sat in this river until the ambulance came which took a while because we were in the middle of nowhere in the forest. I got thrown into the back of the ambulance and I remember Pierre Mignoni looking at me saying, ‘Carl, you’re playing next week’. I ended up having two-and-a-half months out and I thought they could potentially rip my contract up. Luckily they didn’t and I went on to be a big player for them.”
Prior to his French adventure, which ended with last week’s transfer to Newcastle, Fearns had spent four seasons at Bath and made headlines in 2013 for knocking out Henson in a bar not long after the Wales Grand Slam winner had arrived at the English club. “I have been accused by Gavin of dining out on that far too much,” quipped Fearns at the start of the show before later in the interview revisiting what happened.
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“The lads went to Thatchers Brewery. I didn’t go but they were egging Gav on, they wanted to see ‘Super Gav’. Then when ‘Super Gav’ came out they all wanted to try and put him back in the box,” explained Fearns, who later met up with the Bath squad that night.
“He already had been point-scoring with the other lads in the team before so we just sat him down and said, ‘Look, this is Bath, small place, everyone knows your business, just chill out’. He then stood up and said he would knock me out and said your missus wants to get with me… I didn’t intend to knock him out with what I threw but unfortunately it did… I got on really well with him after. If I had known that that isn’t him I just wouldn’t have done what I did really.”
'I was very much a middle-to-bottom player in a club… it’s their salaries that are getting cut by a large amount. Those players are left in the s***' @TomStephenson13 walked away from rugby at 26, his mental health in tatters. He talks to @heagneyl ???https://t.co/tIADPwvn0G
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 11, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
This sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
12 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
77 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
12 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
12 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
12 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
12 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
12 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
44 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
2 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to comments