Rugby ace who dated Charlotte Church was knocked out cold in pub chaos | Rugby | Sport

Gavin Henson, the former partner of Charlotte Church, has opened up about the time he was knocked unconscious by a team-mate during a bonding session gone awry. Henson is recognised as one of the most naturally talented players of his era. He clinched two Grand Slam titles with Wales, toured with the British and Irish Lions, and secured league and cup victories with the Ospreys. However, his off-pitch behaviour often eclipsed his sporting triumphs.

Throughout the noughties, his personal life frequently grabbed headlines, particularly his high-profile romance with classical singer-turned-popstar Church. Their five-year love affair, which ended just six weeks after their engagement in 2010, was one of the most publicised in recent British sporting history. Church made her TV comeback on The Celebrity Traitors on Wednesday night. Aside from his romantic escapades, Henson occasionally landed himself in hot water due to excessive celebrations and drinking sessions.

In 2007, he was among four men charged with disorderly conduct for drunken antics on a train journey between London and Cardiff. However, due to lack of evidence, the case was dismissed. Two years later, he received a police caution for his behaviour during a night out in Cardiff, following Wales’ Six Nations victory over England.

In 2012, after only eight appearances, his club, Cardiff, sacked him due to his “inexcusable” and “inappropriate” drunken behaviour on a flight returning from a match in Glasgow.

However, it was an incident the following year that left Henson in severe physical pain, as he was knocked unconscious by his new team-mate shortly after joining Bath in 2013. The team-mate in question was Carl Fearns, with the 6ft 3in, 19 stone flanker reacting strongly to a comment made by the Welshman during a team bonding night.

The two men were at the Pig and Fiddle pub in Bath when CCTV captured Fearns and Henson engaged in a heated argument in the middle of the venue. As team-mates intervened to break up the scuffle, the back-rower punched the Wales star in the face, leaving him sprawled out on the ground.

Both players were fined by their club and received written warnings, with Fearns later admitting that the incident with Henson overshadowed his achievements on the pitch in the eyes of most rugby fans. However, he stated that he has no regrets about what transpired.

Reflecting on the incident in an interview with the Mail on Sunday, the former Bath, Sale and Lyon player said: “It’s not great if that’s the only thing you’re remembered for to be honest but at the end of the day, I don’t have any regrets.

“I turned up late but the lads had been drinking for a long time by the pavilion at The Rec. The lads were already egging Gav on. They wanted to see ‘Super Gav’, which was the nickname for his alter ego when he’d had a few. We went to a few bars and Gav flipped the table of a couple who were having dinner in the corner. Stuart Hooper took him outside.

“Paul James was really miffed as he’d vouched for Gav because he knew him from Wales,” he added. “There was a lot of drink involved. Gav came back in and had plenty to say and what happened, happened. I went home and told my now-wife it was going to kick off and it did! My wife gave me a good telling off.”

Henson, on the other hand, was left red-faced by the incident, as he said at the time: “It wasn’t a great start to my Bath career, but hopefully I can put that behind me. There was a lot of drink involved, that’s my excuse. Bad things seem to happen when I go out, so maybe I shouldn’t go out.

“I went down quite easy by the looks of things but, you know, there was a lot of drink involved so that’s my excuse,” he added. “There was about 20, 25 pints so I think anyone would have gone down. But I don’t know maybe we will have a charity boxing match at the end of the year so I can get my respect back.”

In a more recent interview with MailOnline, the ex-Wales rugby star provided more insight into what he said to Fearns, before revealing that his days of heavy drinking were over, having learnt how to control the ‘chimp’ in his mind, or “the voice which tells you to do things you maybe shouldn’t.”

Reflecting on his clash with his team-mate, he said: “I didn’t really know Carl. He’d missed out on the full day of drinking and I made a comment to him about that. He was like ‘Who the hell are you?’ And that was that. Good night.

“In social interactions, I probably need a drink because I’m an introvert,” Henson confessed. “If I have a drink, I become more of an extrovert and the chimp has more confidence! I can be good fun on a night out!

“But now I choose not to go into those environments. I’m not teetotal. In the last year, I’ve probably had one good drink. There’s a place in rugby for sharing a drink with your team-mates.”