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'He's like a social glue player': Why Danny Care is back to his best aged 34 and winning individual awards with Harlequins
It was like old times the other day at Harlequins with Danny Care being named the Gallagher Premiership player of the month for March. The scrum-half used to be a regular contender for such accolades and while his form dipped in recent years, he is now back at the top of his game at the ripe veteran age of 34.
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Similar to the rejuvenation seen in Mike Brown, the resurgence of Care in recent months has been pivotal in the rise of Harlequins back up the Premiership table and into the playoff positions with seven rounds matches remaining.
The scrum-half hasn’t been capped since November 2018 but such has been his current rich vein of form that he has even been speculated as an outside contender for Lions tour selection. While that might be a leap for a player who hasn’t featured at Test level in 29 months, Harlequins are revelling in the form Care is showing and were delighted when he extended his contract in January just days after Paul Gustard departed as director of rugby.
With a home game versus Worcester their next assignment as they hunt down a league semi-final appearance, Harlequins assistant Jerry Flannery has lauded the behind the scenes work that has gone a long way in ensuring that 30-something players such as Care are in fantastic form heading into the business end of the 2020/21 season.
“I don’t have a point of reference as to what he was like when he was younger but I will say that the S&C and the medical here are very, very careful here about making sure that we keep the best players available all the time,” explained Flannery, who joined the London club last summer after starting his post-playing coaching career at Munster.
Gatland's new staff have got straight down to business, identifying 57 potential picks for the likely 36-strong Lions squad https://t.co/4685z9NiO3
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 14, 2021
“When you look at the way Brownie has been performing for us and you look at the way Danny has been performing, they are getting the balance right there because you are asking lads to play in an incredibly physical league, you are asking them to pitch up week in week out.
“There has to be some give and take and, as coaches, we take a lot of direction from Mike Lancaster (head of medical) and they would make sure we are not wasting any of the players’ energy unnecessarily during the weeks so they have it for the weekend. Danny would be a really good example of that because the way Danny plays it’s all about being sharp. If Danny is in any way overly fatigued going into the game he is not going to be at his best.
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“He has been outstanding for us, he really has been outstanding,” continued Flannery. “I would have played against Danny when I was back with Munster and with Ireland and he was always a player that we would have highlighted because of individual threat.
“He’s really popular within the squad, he is like a social glue player. When you are around Danny he is so charming, he makes everyone feel good. He is a good guy to have in the squad like that and on top of that, when he plays the way he is playing at the moment – everyone sees him as the guy who has got the magic plays but when I look at it, defensively he has made massive, massive plays for us over the last six, seven weeks as well.
“That and his kicking game, when those things are there allied to his natural ability to linebreak and create, that is probably why he is Premiership player of the month,” said Flannery, adding that Care’s defence was something that didn’t demand attention when he lined up against him as an opposition player.
“We would have highlighted him more as an individual threat, as an attacking threat when we would have played, he is going to try and snipe, he will try and take quick taps, he will bring tempo, he will look to run, to draw in lazy defenders and then play outside them, but it wouldn’t have been the defence side of it.
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“I have been really impressed since I came in. Danny is a really, really good athlete which is why he is still so effective even as he gets into his (mid) 30s, he is a really good athlete and he is quite a physical player as well. The way we have been playing, the way that we have been defending, there is opposition that will make some breaches against us and it’s the ability to scramble, to get high up the field and then scramble and Danny does that really, really well for us.”
'I was very much a middle-to-bottom player in a club… it’s their salaries that are getting cut by a large amount. Those players are left in the s***' @TomStephenson13 walked away from rugby at 26, his mental health in tatters. He talks to @heagneyl ???https://t.co/tIADPwvn0G
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 11, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments