Licking Carl Fearns' head and spray tans help Falcons become Eddie's new favourites
Newcastle have been transformed from the unloved Northern outpost of Premiership rugby to Eddie Jones’s new favourite team with four players in the England squad – matching reigning champions Harlequins and eclipsing Bristol and Sale. This has been achieved by Dean Richards’ s men despite flanker Mark Wilson, previously their only England representative, being out injured. With Jones making two visits to Kingston Park in recent months, Callum Chick, Trevor Davison, Jamie Blamire and Adam Radwan will be training with the national squad in Jersey next week.
The team spirit that has helped Falcons overcome their former status is the reason why No8 Carl Fearns will be sporting a full body spray tan in one of their matches this season. Fearns , whose ball carrying has helped Falcons move up to sixth place going into Saturday’s trip to Gloucester, was unlucky to suffer this forfeit for a breach of conduct rules that he “cannot remember” and had to spin the wheel of fortune which landed on the fake tan.
Other players have got off more lightly with having to produce a tray bake for the squad or arriving and leaving training dressed in a business suit also listed on the wheel along with a forfeit that has been put on hold while the COVID-19 pandemic remains a significant problem. It involves the unlucky player having to “lick Fearnsy’s head”. Full back Tom Penny is at the heart of the forfeits that have, inevitably, led to accusations of foul play, although Fearns has yet to catch anyone in the act.
So how does the forfeit system work for the Falcons players? “There is one forfeit that involves my head but in the current climate I don’t think it is the best thing to do. I had to spin it and there is a spray tan segment that I unfortunately landed on and so there may be a game this season where I turn up looking like I have been on holiday for a few weeks. Tom Penny is in charge as the Sherriff and it is on his shoulders when it happens but I am not reminding them about it. There is one called Mr Businessman where you have to turn up in a suit at the club, also wear it between sessions and when you leave.
“There is a lot of sabotage going on at the moment like taking someone’s car keys and parking their car in a disabled bay and then taking a photograph and claiming it was disgraceful and the car owner had to spin. There are a lot of players getting set up.”
Fearns, 32, who enjoyed a highly successful period in France helping Lyon gain promotion to the Top14 before heading to the North East, accepts he has to undergo the tanning which will be obvious to everyone thanks to that bald head. Having returned to the Premiership in April, Fearns was immediately struck by the team spirit at Falcons and said: “One of the first things I noticed here was the camaraderie and there are no egos in the group – just lads who want to graft for each other.
“That is why we can, if we want to, do something in the Premiership. Just look at our scramble defence and the way guys work hard to get back and those are foundations that allow you to do things. We almost thrive on the weather here in the North and when teams come to Kingston Park and see it blowing a gale and horizontal rain we have almost won the battle.”
The former England Saxons No8, who has also played for Sale and Bath, is a key ball carrier for Newcastle who have one of the strongest back row contingents in the Premiership and the competition is driving him to try and regain ground lost when he underwent a second ACL knee reconstruction while at Lyon.
He explained: “I have been having to manage my knee throughout my career because the first one happened when I was young and every club I have been to, I have had my work load managed. The ACL at Lyon was on the same leg and I have also had a microfracture on the right knee and so I should be running in circles! I have not got much lateral meniscus in that knee and so in order to effectively replace the cartilage they drill holes into your bone which then calcifies and that acts as the cartilage.
“I knew I wanted to come back to England and carry on playing and prove the level I was at. Lyon offered me a one year deal to stay and I told them “no” and then COVID arrived and English clubs couldn’t be seen to be giving out contracts when they didn’t know financially where they would be. I couldn’t come back so signed for Rouen in ProD2 while my family went back to England which meant eight months on my own in France.
“In ProD2 it works on the basis of three games on and one game off and in my head I could do the block of games and then see my family but COVID didn’t allow that and so I was stuck in France. The back row options here at Newcastle are right up there with the best I have played with in my career and whoever gets put in it is good place to be with so many players pushing hard.
“Motivation is something I have been good at and I have used those injuries to strive to get back and in France I was mixing it with the best No8’s in the world and in my opinion I was playing as well as them. I then had my injury and it is tough getting back to that level and in my head that is what I have trying to achieve. I might not get there but I will give it a crack. We now have four players in the England squad and these are young players the Falcons can build a team around and it’s brilliant. “
Comments on RugbyPass
To me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
30 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
2 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
30 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
49 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
30 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
30 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
30 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
30 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
1 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to commentsObscene that SA haven’t been knocking
1 Go to commentsChances of Blackadder being injured seem too high to give him serious consideration. ABs loosie combination finally looked good with 2 committed to tackling and clearing rucks in the centre and Ardie roaming. Hoskins/Ardie together would force one of them into where they don’t excel and don’t get to use their talent, or require a change in tactics. If we continue to evolve last years systems I would take Papali’i and Finau at 6 and 7 (conceding that Blackadder will be injured) and Ardie at 8.
30 Go to commentsArdie’s preferred position 7? Where do they get these writers from? I've no idea where he's playing in Japan, but the previous two seasons he wore the 7 jersey exactly twice.
17 Go to commentsNot good to hear Ulster described as “financially troubled”. Did not think it was getting to that level. I would hope the Irish system of spreading players of talent away from Leinster would kick in now. Better to have a Leinster fringe player with Ulster or Connacht, then getting only a few games a season in Dublin. 10, for example, would seem to be a case for spreading the talent. I would not be at all adverse to a SA man coming in as head coach/DR. Ludeke is worth trying. Certainly got a long and impressive coaching career at this level…..149 games in SR, then Japan, 30 years experience. And Ulster’s ledger of successful SA coaches and players is on the positive side. Is talk of Ruan Pienaar interested in coming back as a coach…..could be a good combination with Ludeke. And Pienaar and family would have no settling in to do, one would judge. He loved life in Ulster when there, by all reports.
1 Go to commentsSome thoughts to consider here, Sam. Thanks
2 Go to commentsI think he is right, SBW is respected in RSA. The guy who never stood up is a worm. Sseems lots of NZ SBW hate, you do the crime do the time.
17 Go to comments