French club in bid to prise Danny Care from Harlequins

Bayonne are making a last-minute attempt to derail Harlequins bid to keep veteran England scrum-half Danny Care at the Twickenham Stoop for another season.

RugbyPass understands that Care, who won his 97th England cap against Italy at the weekend, is close to agreeing to another one-year contract with Quins, who are second in the Premiership table.

Care, who celebrated his 37th birthday last month, is keen to continue playing for at least another season and is on course to join an elite club of England test centurions against Ireland at Twickenham on March 9th.

And it would see Care, who has won three Six Nations Championships, join Jason Leonard, Ben Youngs, Owen Farrell, Courtney Lawes and Dan Cole in playing 100 games for the Red Rose.

Leeds-born Care turned to rugby after being released by Sheffield Wednesday’s academy and moved to Quins in 2006, helping them win a European Challenge Cup in 2011 and two Premiership crowns.

The Quins stalwart broke the club’s all-time appearance record last February when he made his 351st appearance and is lending towards remaining at the club with his family settled in Surrey.

But Bayonne’s interest is serious as they are looking to replace another veteran, Maxime Machenaud, and they want an international standard player to replace the former Les Bleus ace.

Bayonne have been busy in the transfer market for next season and have already raided the Premiership for Mateo Carreras from Newcastle and Northampton Saints lock Alex Moon.

They can make Care a financially attractive offer to make him weigh up his future carefully and throw a spanner in Quins plans to keep him, forcing a quick rethink of their recruitment strategy.