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England outcast Danny Care has issued a reminder to Eddie Jones

(Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

It’s 17 months since Danny Care was last capped by Eddie Jones’ England, but the out-of-favour scrum-half hasn’t given up all hope of earning a future recall despite the recent contract extension that will see the Australian remain in charge through to the 2023 World Cup in France. 

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Jones has preferred Willi Heinz in recent times as his preferred back-up choice to Ben Youngs, the pair helping England reach the World Cup final in Japan last year.

But Care, who hasn’t been capped since the Japanese visited Twickenham in November 2018, has his fingers crossed that all is not yet lost in his international career.

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Taking a break from his current TikTok dancing video fame, the Harlequins scrum-half made an appearance in BT Sport’s Rugby Tonight programme to outline how he can see himself fitting into Jones’ plans for the future once rugby starts up again following its stoppage for the coronavirus pandemic. 

“When rugby starts up again I want to come back as an energising, tempo scrum-half and I want to go out with a bang,” said the No9, who has another season remaining on his club contract.

“I definitely think I’ve got some miles left in the tank, I’ve still got some big aspirations in the game, I want to win some trophies.

“The dream would be to pull on an England shirt again, I’m not sure if that’s fully gone now, I am a realist and haven’t been picked for a while so I’m going to focus on my club game and just try and put Harlequins in a position where we’re challenging for a trophy.

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“But never say never, we’ll see what happens over the next few years, I’ve got one more year in my contract and then we’ll see.”

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fl 8 hours ago
What is the future of rugby in 2025?

Smith generally isn't well connected to his forward pods; doesn't do a great job of distributing to those around him; and has inferior positional and contestable kicking games than Ford and Fin.


When England have had success over the past few years, its been either through (i) defensive rugby backed up with smart tactical kicking or (ii) high possession attacking phase play based on quick ruck ball. George Ford was key to the implementation of (i) in the RWC, and in the 6N win over Wales, and to the implementation of (ii) in the 6N games against Ireland and France. Smith did great at (ii) when running at tired defenders at the end of the Ireland match, but has never successfully implemented that gameplan from the start of a test because he doesn't distribute or support his forwards enough to create consistent fast ball and build attacks over multiple phases. Instead, his introduction to the starting side has resulted in much more playmaking responsibilities being forced onto whoever plays 9. Alex Mitchell copes ok with that, but I think he looks better with a more involved playmaking 10 outside him, and it really isn't a gameplan that works for JVP or Spencer. As a result of that the outside backs and centres have barely touched the ball when Smith has been at 10.


This might not have been too much of a disaster, as England have seemed to be moving slightly towards the sort of attacking gameplan that France played under Labit and Quins play (I think this was especially their approach when they won the league a few years ago - but its still a part of their play now), which is based on kicking to create broken field rugby. This is (i) a sharp departure from the gameplans that have worked for England in the past few seasons; (ii) bears very little relation to the tactical approaches of the non-Quins players in the England team; and (iii) is an absolute disaster for the blitz defence, which is weak in transition. Unsurprisingly, it has coincided with a sharp decline in England's results.

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