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'It's frightening; you’d love to have all three on the pitch'
England veteran Danny Care has claimed the potential that Marcus Smith has is frightening. Care and Smith were the half-back combination that helped to drive their club Harlequins to Gallagher Premiership glory in 2021 with a swashbuckling style of attacking rugby.
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They have since taken their partnership onto Test level with England, most recently starting together as the England nine/10 combination in the opening Summer Nations Series fixture away to Wales.
With Steve Borthwick set to name his team on Thursday to take on Argentina in this Saturday’s Rugby World Cup Pool D opener, Care and Smith are in contention for selection.
The 36-year-old Care has claimed that getting picked to play in such a massive World Cup match would be the best week of his career.
He also played up the ability of Smith, who in recent weeks has been training at full-back following an impressive 27-minute try-scoring appearance off the bench in that position in the August 26 Twickenham loss to Fiji.
Head-to-Head
Last 5 Meetings
Wins
4
Draws
0
Wins
1
Average Points scored
28
16
First try wins
60%
Home team wins
60%
“I have spent a lot of time speaking about how good Marcus is,” said Care. “I always say it amazes me how he keeps getting better. The potential he has got still is frightening and he has got two brilliant people in terms of George (Ford) and Owen (Farrell) to learn off every day.
“Some of those combinations when those two or three of them get on the ball together, it is frightening. You’d love to have all three on the pitch.
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“But Marcus is one of the brilliant players we have got here (in France) and the idea is to get him the ball with some space but to do that we have got to run hard and win some collisions and win some quick ball. That is what we will be challenged to do this weekend.”
Care’s calling card at Harlequins is to constantly play at a high tempo. It’s a style that very much suits him, but he has learned over the years this approach doesn’t fully fit in at Test level. “It’s a key role for any nine to dictate the tempo of the game,” he explained.
“It’s not always fast. That is something I have definitely learned over my time, it’s not all helter-skelter. You have got to do what the team needs at the right time so whatever role I can play this weekend, I will try to do it to be best of my ability and whatever the team needs.
“Obviously I enjoy the fast tempo type of play; it’s something I have always backed in my game and the way we want to play is fast and physical and confrontational. When we get that going it is going to be fun.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
Big empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
34 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.
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