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'Dying to get back out there': The buzz that Danny Care has missed
Danny Care returns to Twickenham with his love for the game rekindled by a title-winning season and the determination to help Harlequins’ young guns fulfil their potential. A year ago Care’s interest in rugby was waning as Quins toiled in front of empty stands, the absence of fans deflating a high-energy player whose England career had ended two years earlier.
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But the departure of Paul Gustard dramatically transformed fortunes on the pitch to the extent that a team positioned seventh in the Gallagher Premiership stormed to their first domestic crown since 2012.
As the end of lockdown brought supporters back to grounds, albeit in limited numbers, the joy returned to the heartbeat of Quins’ resurgence. Now 34 and in the final year of his contract, Care is determined to revel in the occasion of next Monday’s annual ‘Big Game’ when Northampton visit Twickenham to take on Harlequins.
“I honestly feel great. I definitely feel better than I did when I was 26 or 27,” said Care, the long-serving Harlequins No9 who is England’s second most capped scrum-half. “When you go away from international rugby you miss it so much, but at the same time you are not being pulled from pillar to post and you are not away all the time.
“We have got a good thing going with my training schedule. I don’t have to do any crazy stuff, just things that make me feel good for the weekend. My contract is up this year and we will see what happens there. As long as I still feel I can do it and help the team, then I will keep going. I’m enjoying rugby and as soon as that stops I will know it is time to do something else.
'I kept it really quiet from the lads, I didn’t tell any of them' @harlequins veteran @dannycare has options post rugby #COYQhttps://t.co/6ih2BBcuyJ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 19, 2021
“The last year to 18 months have massively reinvigorated me. When we were playing with no fans, I could have called it a day then. I couldn’t get any enjoyment out of it at all. But seeing fans cheering… I don’t get the opportunity to play in front of 80,000 anymore because I don’t play for England. Watching England play in the autumn was amazing, but it also made me realise how much I miss the buzz of a full Twickenham.
“I’m dying to get back out there on that stage for the Big Game. I have a genuine love for rugby again. Whenever it feels like a job, I am probably not doing the right thing anymore, but it is still enjoyable and I like trying to help the young lads, guiding them when I can. I was passionate to help these guys lift the trophy before I left. We have done it once but I would love to see us do it again.”
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Harlequins are among a pack of clubs jostling for one of the three remaining play-offs spots available with Leicester’s position as runaway leaders placing them in prime contention for a semi-final. The champions come into their own in dryer conditions when their instinctive, attacking mindset can cause the greatest damage but in the meantime, they are having to fend off claims they are vulnerable.
“We have heard a few comments that we have been worked out and we can’t play in the wet. We can be quite unpredictable, so what are you working out? What is it we are doing because we don’t know half the time!” Care said.
“I don’t think we have been worked out, it’s just that other teams have got better and we haven’t played as well as we can do. Hopefully, when we do, teams won’t be able to work that out. We back ourselves to get through these winter months and if we were able to front up physically at Leicester earlier in the month, we should be able to do it anywhere.”
Comments on RugbyPass
You have got to consider that if the situation was flipped and the French were held to a salary cap with no English equivalent, the English would laugh in their faces and tell them to get over it. As for Leinster (as a fan), the central contract system is a dream but is guilty of cutting out the other 3 provinces. At the end of the day, it comes across outside of the English border that the Premiership is drowning and trying to take everyone else with it rather than adapt. The English lose, the English want new rules. We've seen this repeat (and once it even led to the current Champions Cup) You make many good and informed points, but if the flip was on the other flop, it wouldn't be Rugby’s problem I suspect - it would be a French one.
13 Go to commentsSeems to have been a bright start but it tailed off. To win the big matches you have to get used to putting your foot on the throttle and your opponent’s necks in an 80 minutes performance which is what the All Blacks were renowned for. An example in the Women’s game is England v Ireland in the 6N match played at Twickenham in April. Watch on YouTube.
1 Go to commentsBobby has been a first grade bonehead since high school. Like a true Cape Tonian, his own reflection is more important than anything else.
1 Go to commentsNo comment on the textbook red card for Ramm that was just ignored? Amazing that
4 Go to commentsThese rule changes have been implemented with good intentions, but much like every other rule change focus on isolated symptoms instead of the root cause. If you cannot croc roll, and cannot risk any head contact with a front on clear out, it is not clear how you are supposed to lawfully clear someone out who is attempting a jackal. This will backfire massively and lead to substantially more kicking. Teams will simply not want to take the ball into contact. Or it will lead to even more dangerous methods to clear players out who are over the ball. I much prefer having the set piece on a 30 second shot clock over no scrum on a short arm infringement. Resets are not a problem in themselves, but 90 second water and tactics breaks before every scrum are a big problem. Trainers constantly coming on to the field to help players pull their socks up and delaying the game are a problem. DuPont law was a blight on the game and should have been changed the day after it was first implemented.
79 Go to commentsAh yes, the opinion of Andy Goode… Andy Goode, the man who knows what some of the Irish players said to Eben Etzebeth after the QF, better than what Eben himself knows. And, judging by this piece, the Grandmaster of clichés.
4 Go to commentsI think this is a fair view. As a South African I am concerned about the depowering of the scrum but let’s be honest, until the SA vs FRA quarter many people didn’t even know you could take a scrum from a free kick. As you say it’s going to come down to interpretation… until then we don’t really know how this is going to impact the game. That would lead to my own objection. Do the unknowns of changing a law outweigh the cons of said law. With such an obscure law that most people had never heard of, one that had never really had an impact on the game in the first place is it worth changing to invite so much uncertainty. Better the devil you know then the devil you don’t as it were…
4 Go to comments162 comments so far and counting. i didn't realize that rugby fans are on the way to join the football brothers. what is the point to share personal opinion only to get all this shi*? it seems IRB bosses are doing the great job by killing the spirit of the game both on and outside the pitch. too sad, indeed. btw, was there anything on eben’s point of view from the boys in green, who he mentioned?
164 Go to commentsJob done guys. Great win in a game where things can quickly go wrong.
1 Go to commentsAlex Sanderson fantastic coach and person .So pleased he has signed another contract great days ahead for Sale under his leadership.
1 Go to commentsAndy Goode cant kick to 12
164 Go to commentsDoxed himself. Great work Johnny. You are well suited to the Saders
1 Go to comments_Best game players _
1 Go to commentsWho's Jarrad Hohepa?
1 Go to commentsSo let me get this straight. Say you have the dominant scrum. You are 99% sure you can go for a scrum pushover try on the line to win the game. The opposition knows it too. They give away a silly tap kick instead. You are now not allowed to scrum. This is ridiculous! *%@ing the game up as usual! The fact that the attacking teams are not allowed to scrum from a held up over the line is just as ridiculous. Really world rugby? Careful people might start a rebel league called True Rugby or Real Rugby.
79 Go to comments12 subs during a game? How has that been allowed to happen NB? I hate when the game goes in this monopolistic direction closing up shop, it just becomes non sport. Btw have you seen anything of how Liam Coltman was tracking for Lyon? He has just signed to return to Otago though we have a couple of young hookers developing here. He was a popular gentle natured character down here and I’m glad to see him back but maybe he will be a mentor primarily?
13 Go to commentsGreat breakdown and the global politics always confuses me a little. The southern hemisphere seems to be left out a bit but I wouldn’t even know where to start with fixing it. Club challenge could be a step in the right direction
13 Go to commentsSince he coached Free state, from that time onwards, I maintained he was the coach for the Boks. A nice, no nonsense guy with an excellent brain, who gets results.
11 Go to commentswell - they only played against 14 men and had the TMO team on their side - and still should have lost… so actually that makes sense.
35 Go to commentsSouthern hemisphere Rugby is exactly that, boring. Northern Hemisphere Rugby is soooo much more entertaining and better with better players.
2 Go to comments