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'I can't say': The England question Danny Care refused to answer


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Danny Care was full of chat on Tuesday at Le Touquet-Paris-Plage. Hybrid club/country contracts, the physicality of Samoa, even watching Europe win golf’s Ryder Cup last weekend. The veteran scrum-half, though, pleaded the fifth when asked to choose which England out-half he prefers playing with.

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Asked to compare and contrast the merits of George Ford, the official player of the match versus Argentina and Japan, and Owen Farrell, the skipper who returned to the No10 shirt against Chile, Care began: “They are very similar, very similar northern voices shouting at me.

“No, they are very similar players, very similar characters but they have got subtle differences I would say as well.

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“If you looked at Owen recently he is big, he’s a big 10, so Owen will punch the line a little bit more. Both unbelievable operators, and the same with Marcus (Smith).

“With all three of them in there, whoever you throw the ball to are probably going to make a good decision off the back of what you have given them.

“Always talking, always wanting the ball, always commentating the whole way around, all three of them. We are very lucky to have all three. Whoever is there, it’s nice when there is more than one of them because you always have got someone who wants the ball.

“The connections they can bring together as well, it’s pretty unique. They have shown glimpses of that and hopefully we can show more of that.”

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Which one do you prefer to play with Danny? “I can’t say that,” he chuckled. “I can’t say; I plead the fifth.”

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TL 1 hour ago
Joe Schmidt bows out on a high - but can the Wallabies escape 'the twilight zone'?

It’s hard to see how any coach could have done much better and that coaches can only shift the dial so much in Australia, we’ve had some of the best in the world and the trajectory has been the same. The win/loss record is obviously an important metric, but it is only one metric, and not necessarily the best to assess a team that is really still in a building phase (2024 was recovery!). You could look at something like average losing margin, and the trajectory there is much better, with the 2025/2026 results close to half the losing margin in 2024 and during Eddie’s reign (roughly 10, compared to closer to 20). Much has been made of the so called merry-go-round at 10 (really sick of that phrase but here I am using it), but losing Noah, Lygnah and Dono between Fiji and SA games in 2025, and Carter then Dono in 2026 had nothing to do with Joe. He consistently backed his first choices and backed youth at 10 when he could. The injuries led to a massive increase in uncertainty around whether to risk players who weren’t ready or back experience but lose the future benefit. In that situation I think we need to permit our coaches a greater degree of experimentation and error. Much has been made of the LSL situation, but what about how Joe’s selections at lock have led to some real depth of capability there, with players that weren’t as conspicuously impressive (e.g. Williams, Canham). Joe has made his mistakes, but he righted the trend that was heading sharply down, and I suspect that as with what he left in Ireland and as with Stuart Lancaster your old mate, the true test of his time will be what happens in the wake.

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