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Danny Care shuns French offers to stay in England
By Neil Fissler
Danny Care is set to end speculation on his future by signing a one-year deal to extend his career with Harlequins and turn his back on a final payday by moving to France, where he has been attracting interest from clubs.
The 37-year-old, who has made a record 369 appearances for Quins, announced earlier this week that he was retiring from international rugby after winning 101 caps in a 15-year international career.
The veteran scrum-half has been linked with moves to Bayonne, and most recently, Perpignan. The Catalans had him on a list of four players they were tracking, along with Leo Carbonneau, Jake Gordon and Ali Price.
Care, who has won three Six Nations championships, joined Jason Leonard, Ben Youngs, Owen Farrell, Courtney Lawes and Dan Cole in playing 100 games for England when he featured off the bench in the win over Ireland earlier this month.
The Leeds-born scrum-half turned to rugby after being released by the Sheffield Wednesday FC academy and he moved to Harlequins in 2006, helping them win a European Challenge Cup in 2011 and two Premiership titles.
His family is settled in Surrey, where his wife Jodie works as a lawyer, and uprooting their three young children to France would have been a big wrench.
Harlequins rugby director Billy Millard admitted earlier this week that the club were hopeful Care would start a 19th season at the Twickenham Stoop.
“Danny has some decisions to make, and we left him alone during the Six Nations. But we are all very hopeful we can get there shortly. It would be an awesome thing for him to end his career here,” he said.
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Latest Comments
Agreed. A very good comparison. On the day they can beat anyone.
You can never be sure which team is pitching up until the whistle blows.
I think Contemponi is a fabulous coach.
Go to commentsUmm - really?
He goes on to say that they just need to deal with the Bok scrums, lineouts and territorial game. Those are not one or two little things ...
Besides, I suspect Tony Brown would like to see his new attacking philosophy clicking against Wales. That involves a lot more than set pieces and kicking. And Gatland might want to be ready for it.
For me the big question is whether the Boks retain their shape and intensity, regardless of the scoreline. If they do that then it could be a cricket score.
But there have been times this year when we have seen them get into a kind of error strewn, shelter shelter, hot potato mode on attack. Hope we don't see that, because it is silly and ineffective. Also boring.
I would love to see the new Bok plan in full flight. But, sadly, my expectation is that we will be another England-like post-game interview, with Rassie "taking the win" but declaring that they did not play the way they intended to.
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