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'I knocked out Charlotte Church's ex in pub - I have no regrets after what was said'

Charlotte Church's former fiance Gavin Henson was left sprawled out on the floor of a pub in Bath after a drunken night out with his team-mates suddenly went wrong

[CCTV footage of Gavin Henson being knocked out by Carl Fearns]

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Henson was knocked out during a team bonding night in 2013(Image: Mirror Screen Grab)

Charlotte Church's former partner Gavin Henson has revealed all about the moment he was knocked out by one of his new team-mates after a bonding session went wrong.

Henson was one of the most naturally gifted players of his generation. He won two Grand Slam titles with Wales, toured with the British and Irish Lions, and won league and cup titles with the Ospreys. However, his off-field antics occasionally overshadowed his sporting achievements.

Throughout the 2000s, his personal life frequently made headlines, in particular his high-profile relationship with classical singer-turned-popstar Church, who made her return to TV in The Celebrity Traitors on Wednesday night. Their five-year romance was one of the most documented in recent British sporting history, but ended just six weeks after they got engaged in 2010.

Away from his romantic life, however, Henson occasionally found himself in trouble after celebrations and drinking sessions went too far.

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

[Henson was in a relationship with Charlotte Church for five years]

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Henson was in a relationship with Charlotte Church for five years(Image: Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

In 2012, he was dismissed by his club, Cardiff, after just eight appearances due to his "inexcusable" and "inappropriate" drunken antics on a flight back from a match in Glasgow.

However, it was an incident the following year that left Henson in the most 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 not taking too kindly 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 caught Fearns and Henson having a heated argument in the middle of the venue. As team-mates stepped in 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 said that he has no regrets about what happened.

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 annoyed 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 blow up and it did! My wife gave me a good telling off."

[Carl Fearns]

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Fearns - who is 6ft 3in and weighed 19 stone - said he has no regrets as he reflected on his career

Henson, meanwhile, was left embarrassed by what happened, 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 recent interview with MailOnline, the ex-Wales rugby star gave more insight into what he said to Fearns, before revealing that his boozing days were behind him, 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 run-in with his teammate, he said: "I didn't really know Carl. He'd missed out on the full day of drinking and I said 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 admitted. "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".

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