Carl Fearns aims to play for France following criticism from Eddie Jones

Carl Fearns revealed that a phone call from England coach Eddie Jones reinforced his decision to stay in France.

Fearns, initially signed a three-year contract with Gloucester ahead of the 2017/18 season but instead decided to remain with his original club Lyon with the French club paying the Cherry and Whites the compensation.

Recalling the conversation with Jones before the decision was made, Fearns revealed that the 57-year-old wanted the flanker to continue with the Gloucester contract in order to be considered for England and also questioned his fitness by saying he would struggle to play 15 minutes of a Test match.

“Yeah, that's what he said,” Fearns, who will be qualified to play for France at the end of the upcoming season 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.’

Fearns joined Lyon in 2015 after he was part of Sale Sharks and Bath previously. He also captained England Under 18 team and was a member of the England Under 20 side that reached the final of the U20 Championship in 2009 and was nominated for IRB Junior Player of the Year award for his performance in the tournament.

Fearns' strong performance in Top 14 last season earned him a nomination for the player of the season award.

“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," added the 28-year-old.

“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.”