The RWC warm-up games promise that England's Danny Care has made
Danny Care has unfinished business with the Rugby World Cup and he won't hold back during the England warm-up games even if it means repeating one of his career’s most crushing disappointments.
Care was considered first choice scrum-half heading into the 2011 tournament only to sustain a serious foot injury against Wales in Cardiff during the build-up, preventing him from playing any part.
The Harlequins half-back had already paid for his parents to travel to New Zealand in anticipation of his involvement and while they watched England reach the quarter-finals, he remained at home on crutches.
Four years later, he had slipped down the pecking order and was confined to a single match against Uruguay, and when 2019 arrived he was among the victims of Eddie Jones’ left-field approach to scrum-half selection.
France this autumn offers a final chance for the 36-year-old to realise his World Cup dream, but first England must revisit the setting for his misfortune of 2011 when they face Wales at the Principality Stadium on Saturday.
“I’m desperate to try and play more World Cup games, try and win some more games for England,” Care said. “It will be a dream come true to get on that plane and hopefully I have done enough to get on the plane.
“I got named in the squad in 2011, played a warm-up game and ended up missing the tournament. Touch wood that doesn’t happen again, but it is rugby, it happens.
“One thing you can’t do going onto a rugby field is think about staying fit and no one will be doing that.
“It is the nature of the beast – you’re not playing tiddlywinks. It’s a tough old sport and you can get injured at any point, in any training session.
“It’s the way it is, there is a bit of luck involved sometimes. You try and not think about it, just crack on and put your head 100 per cent into everything and then hope for the best.
“Everyone will be flying in to win Test matches. We are going to try to win games and the best way to be prepared for France is to go and win some Test matches.”
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Brumbies 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.
Go to commentsDead time reductions are important as is ball in play time increases. Premiership leads the way in terms of ball in play and Northern refereeing standards around the breakdown has sped up the game significantly. Super Rugby is trying new things but its not leading the way in terms of making gains in reducing dead time and ball in play time. Northern administrators are also not against speeding up the game, on the contrary they want a faster game and have been trying things and are embracing increasing the speed of rugby. Super Rugby isnt providing a blueprint for anything, its just part the agreed upon blueprint that administrators across the world are moving to.
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