'Helped me out': Danny Care's take on avoiding 'stonewall' sending off

Harlequins scrum-half Danny Care can count himself as very fortunate that he was not red-carded against Northampton Saints on Saturday at Twickenham.

The 37-year-old was yellow-carded by referee Karl Dickson in the first half of the contest with the Gallagher Premiership leaders for a high tackle on Courtney Lawes (you read that correctly), before finding himself in hot water in the second stanza.

A Northampton break was brought to a halt after Care dived straight over a ruck to stop his former England teammate Alex Mitchell from playing the ball.

Dickson immediately reached for his pocket to show a yellow card, which would have resulted in a red, but was sidetracked by an altercation. Upon review, the decision was that Care would not be yellow-carded, much to the dismay of the commentary team of David Flatman and Brian O'Driscoll. But Care disagrees.

Despite sporting a grin on his face after being substituted immediately after this incident, Care said after the match that he believed the ball was out.

"I thought the ball was out," he said to Ugo Monye on TNT Sport

"Straight bat, I thought the ball was out.

"That one [the Lawes tackle] the rules are the rules. He's a big lad. I don't know how I got high enough to hit his head. But it's one of those. I've got to get my head out the way and go a bit lower. Disappointed myself there.

"This one [the ruck infringement], I think the ball's out. I'm trying to get the ball."

Pundit Lawrence Dallaglio gave his take on the events though, and certainly did not agree with Care.

"I spent a lot of time on a yellow card and I can assure you, after a linebreak, that is a stonewall yellow card," the former England captain said.

Care did concede that the squabble after his dubious rucking may have been his saving grace.

The England centurion added: "There was a little fracas after which maybe helped me out."