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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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Free to air is the key to fan expansion. I attended last weeks game at Suncorp (Reds v Blues) and the total cost is prohibitive to most people that wish to attend. Two tickets $130, parking (event day gouging) $75, road tolls $20, dinner beforehand $130, plus some petrol and a beer inside the stadium and a single game starts to cost $300-400. Who can afford that week in week out, I’d love to go more but could only afford this one game to see the Blues, I’d have loved to have seen more NZ teams here but I’d need to stop eating or sell a kidney.
Go to commentsBrumbies are looking good and if they keep their home form up a final is not beyond the realms of possibility. They showed against the Hurricanes exactly how clinical they can be as they absorbed pressure in that contest while also scoring points and applying their own pressure. Reds are well placed as well but need to find consistency. They are building a longer term project with a young side and plenty of quality players. Been surprising to see the strength of Aussie sides this year after the debacle of the world cup. Have NZ sides gotten weaker? Have Aussie sides gotten stronger? A bit of both I would say. Whatever the case its good to see some actual competition between NZ and Aus sides again and thats exactly what the fans wanted and is probably driving better viewership numbers. All of this can only be healthy for Aus and Super Rugby and I hope the Brumbies go all the way.
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