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Danny Care announces England retirement
By Josh Raisey
England scrum-half Danny Care has announced his retirement from international rugby.
The 37-year-old made the announcement on social media on Monday, just over one week after the end of the Guinness Six Nations, where he earned his 101st and final cap against France in Lyon.
It brings to an end a 16-year Test career for the Harlequins legend, which began against the All Blacks in 2008 at the age of 21.
Care became England's latest centurion against Ireland in the Six Nations, an achievement many thought would not happen after being exiled from the team by Eddie Jones in 2018. Although he did briefly return to the England set-up in 2022 under Jones, it is current England boss Steve Borthwick who breathed new life into Care's international career, recalling him for the World Cup last year.
The 2016 Grand Slam winner played in six of England's seven matches in France last year, as well as all five Six Nations matches this year.
In a statement on social media, he wrote: "To play for England once was a dream come true. never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd get the opportunity to do it over 100 times.
"After a lot of reflection the past few months the time feels right, for myself and the team, to retire from international rugby.
"The past 12 months in this England team have been arguably my favourite, making memories that my family and I will cherish and remember forever.
"I'm unbelievably proud to be English and to have had the privilege to represent this amazing country over the past 16 years. The team is in a really exciting place and there are some incredible young 9s out there that I can't wait to watch and support how they take the team forward.
"To Steve, Jamie, the coaches and the whole backroom staff, thank you for believing in me. I know this team is going to go on to do unbelievable things.
"I want to thank all the England fans from the bottom of my heart who have supported me and the team unconditionally throughout the years, all over the world. It means the world and nothing will ever beat the feeling of walking out to all of you at Twickenham.
"Thank you to every coach who picked me, dropped me, picked me again, dropped me again, loved me or hated me. Hopefully I've shown that you should never give up.
"All good things must come to an end."
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After a fairly simple Pac4, the BFs will find out a lot about themselves in September when they face the rampaging RedRoses at Twickenham in front of a record crowd. After that they will face them again in Canada in WXV1. They also have France to contend with. Will be interesting to see what Australia have to offer with Jo Yapp at the helm.
Go to commentsSuper Rugby Pacific has been better as a spectacle due to the emphasis on speeding the game up and I’d look at taking things a step further. Instead of giving teams 90 seconds to take a conversion, let’s bring that down 60 seconds. You could also look at allowing 45 seconds for a penalty goal. Maybe teams could get 20 seconds instead of 30 to form a scrum before the ref then starts the engagement process. However, this year the most pleasing change is the added competitiveness in the Trans Tasman matches. What does frustrate me is how the rugby media in Australasia allow the the whole ‘‘rugby is boring’’/’’rugby yawnion’’ narrative to take hold from from vindictive league types, the chairman of the ARL commission and News Limited Australia. Stick up for the game and shift the narrative!
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