Australia star Kurtley Beale has opened up about his struggles with alcohol that saw him drunkenly fought two team-mates before checking himself into a rehab facility nearly a decade ago.
Back in 2013, the Wallabies full-back came to blows with Melbourne Rebels team-mates Gareth Delve and Cooper Vuna just hours after a 64-7 loss to the Sharks in South Africa. Then Rebels captain Delve, who won 11 caps for Wales, reportedly asked Beale to put a shirt on before arriving at the team hotel, for which he was abused and assaulted.
Beale, who has had stints in the northern hemisphere with Wasps and Racing 92, has now admitted he was in the wrong and deserved the punishment he received. Speaking as part of Stan Sport’s ‘Kurtley: My Story’, Beale revealed that he also checked himself into rehab ahead of the 2013 Lions tour.
"I checked myself into rehab. It came off the back end of the Rebels, me getting in a stink with one of the other players," he said.
"I made a bit of a porkchop of myself and absolutely deserved every sanction and everything like that. It was the time there where things weren't going right for me. I had to get help.
"With the support going back to my pillars, they pretty much said, maybe let's go down this route and try find yourself a bit. It was pretty tough.
"You think as a young kid you know everything, right? You know everything. I always see it as it's all learnings. It's a time for growth and I found that period really helpful because it was all about reconnecting with my identity because I lost it.
"I didn't know who I was. When you don't have that sense of who you are and that attachment of yourself then you lose yourself by not staying true to yourself."
Beale had been told he wouldn't be considered for Australia selection until he had completed his stint in rehab. He returned for the 2013 Lions tour, which saw the Wallabies fall to a 2-1 series defeat as Beale missed a crucial kick in the closing moments of the first Test.
"I felt good and everything, but the way the games went on, it wasn't the best," he said. "Again, they're all kind of learnings, you've just got to accept it and then move on from that."
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