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Carl Fearns said a phone call from England head coach Eddie Jones “reinforced” his decision to pull out of a move to Gloucester.

The back-row forward signed a new three-year contract with Lyon in the summer after the Top 14 side paid the Cherry and Whites compensation.

During the saga there was speculation that Jones tried to convince Fearns to stick to the contract he signed to join Gloucester for the 2017-18 season so he could be available to play for England under the RFU selection policy but questioned his fitness by saying he would struggle to play 15 minutes of a Test match.

“Yeah, that's what he said,” Fearns told the Daily Mail.

“That was after he'd asked if I was coming back to England and I told him I wasn't.

“I just said, ‘I think you're wrong. I'm playing against top international back-rowers every week in the Top 14 and a lot of them are better than the ones in England, in my opinion.’

“If you look at my stats for last season, I carried the most times in the league and I carried for the most metres, against these big international players. And I was playing 80-minute games.

“So I told Eddie that I disagreed with him, then he said a few more things that I didn't agree with. He called me a whinger and a moaner. I said, ‘Hold on, I'm not a whinger because when things weren't going well at Bath, I didn't just sit around and moan, I went to the second division of France to change my career.’

“He was obviously ringing me because he rates me and he wanted me to be playing in England, to be available for selection.

“But I already had in my head that I wanted to stay and that call reinforced it, really.”

Fearns added: "It was a massive decision. The only positive reason to go home was England, but it's not guaranteed.

"I didn't want to go back for that one reason and risk everything for my family, to chase an England cap. I felt that was too risky and wrong. It would have been selfish."

Fearns is one of three nominees for the Top 14’s player of the season award for 2016-17 and revealed he would be interested in playing for France.

He could play for them on residency rules by this time next year.

Fearns said: “If I'm wanted by the French national team, I would do it – 100 per cent. I want to play international rugby.”



