Danny Care
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Daniel Stuart Care | |
| Date of birth | January 2, 1987 | |
| Place of birth | Leeds, Yorkshire, England | |
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | |
| Weight | 12 st 2 lbs (77 Kg) | |
| School(s) attended | Prince Henry's Grammar School | |
| Club information | ||
| Position(s) | Scrum-half / Fly-half | |
| Current club | Harlequins | |
| Number | 9 | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| Years | Club | |
| West Park Bramhope Otley |
||
| Senior clubs* | ||
| Years | Club | Apps (points) |
2006 ‐ |
Leeds Tykes Harlequins |
12 (5) |
| Representative teams | ||
| 2008 ‐ | England Saxons | 1 |
| Sevens National teams | ||
| England | ||
|
* Professional club appearances and points |
||
Daniel Care, born 2nd January, 1987 in Leeds, Yorkshire is an English rugby union player.
Care plays for Harlequins in the Guinness Premiership.
Care's position of choice is at scrum-half but he can also operate in the fly-half role.
Danny Care is an England Sevens international and has also represented England Saxons.
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Care first played rugby union as a 6 year old with his local club, West Park Bramhope, in Leeds although his first love was soccer. At the age of 11 he was invited to join the Academy at Sheffield Wednesday Football Club which meant giving up club rugby although he was able to continue playing the game at Prince Henry's Grammar School in Otley.
He helped Prince Henry's win the Yorkshire Cup for Under-13's in 2000 but he missed almost all of the next season recovering from a broken leg sustained in a school game.
The following season he was forced to choose between soccer & rugby union and he asked Sheffield Wednesday to release him from his Academy contract so that he could concentrate on rugby and by the end of the season he had been selected for Yorkshire Schools Under-15's, his first taste of representative rugby which included a man-of-the-match performance in the Roses game against Lancashire at Pontefract. In May 2002 he was part of the West Yorkshire team that won the inaugural Under-15 National 10-a-side Festival with the final being played in the Commonwealth Games stadium in Manchester.
Further honours followed next season with selection for Yorkshire and the North of England before making his debut for England Schools Under-16's against Wales at Neath in April 2003. By now Care had resumed club rugby with Otley and the season also brought another Yorkshire Cup success at Under-16's with Prince Henry's.
Care's progress led to an invitation to join the Leeds Tykes Academy at the start of the 2003-04 season - a season which ended with Tykes winning the National Colts Cup for Under-19's and Care being named as Tykes' Players' Young Player of the Year. At school level Care helped Prince Henry's to success in the Yorkshire Cup for Under-18's as well as a famous victory at Twickenham in the final of the Daily Mail Under-18 Vase where he scored 13 points in an 18-11 win against St Columba's College from St Albans. The season finished with selection for the England Clubs Under-18's squad for the Four Nations Tournament held in Belfast where he played against Ireland, Scotland & Wales. He also received a late call up to the replacements' bench for England Under-19's against Ireland although he was not used.
[edit] Leeds Tykes
The following season saw further progress at Leeds Tykes where he made his first XV debut on the wing as a second-half replacement in a pre-season friendly against Exeter Chiefs. His continued involvement with the England Under-19 squad resulted in selection for Team England in the rugby sevens at the 2004 Commonwealth Youth Games in Bendigo, Australia, his first experience of sevens. England came home with the silver medal, losing narrowly 26-24 to the hosts, Australia, in the Final. Care scored 7 tries during the tournament making him the top try scorer in the competition.
Having been an unused replacement for Tykes in home and away European Challenge Cup games against Grenoble, Care finally made his competitive debut for the club at fly-half away to Valladolid in Spain in the European Challenge Shield just a week after returning from Australia. His involvement lasted just 23 minutes before he suffered a broken leg, by which time he had scored a try and kicked 3 conversions.
Despite Care's injury Tykes came forward with the offer of his first professional contract which he signed in December 2004.
Whilst the injury prevented Care taking part in any of England's Under-19 Six Nations games that season he was selected for the squad which travelled to South Africa for the IRB Under-19 World Championship. Unfortunately a knee injury sustained whilst recovering from the broken leg forced him to return home to undergo surgery without playing any part in the Tournament.
After a summer spent getting fit and completing his A-level studies at Prince Henry's, Care was able to join Tykes on a full-time basis with the opportunity to train alongside All Black scrum half legend Justin Marshall who signed for the club during the close season. A pre-season injury to Tykes' No.2 scrum half Mark McMillan gave Care an early opportunity to understudy Marshall and he made his Guinness Premiership debut away at Saracens in September 2005 as a replacement for Marshall late in the game. Over the coming weeks further opportunities arose for first team experience including starting appearances in the Powergen Cup against Sale (which brought his first senior try) and against Newcastle (which brought his first man-of-the-match award).
[edit] Sevens career
Early in the season he was named in the core squad for the senior England Sevens team and made his debut at Wellington in the New Zealand leg of the IRB Sevens series. England lost to France in the quarter final of the Cup but bounced back to beat Argentina in the final of the Plate. The squad moved straight on to Los Angeles where they beat Fiji in the final of the Cup to record England's first ever win in the USA leg of the IRB Sevens.
Care's performances in Wellington & Los Angeles earned him selection for Team England at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne where he picked up a silver medal after defeat by New Zealand in the final of the competition, England's first ever medal in the Games at Rugby Sevens. This success gave Care a unique double as the only England rugby player to win medals at the Commonwealth Youth Games and the senior Commonwealth Games.
In between Los Angeles and Melbourne Care had belatedly had the opportunity to make his debut for the England Under-19 team - 2 years after his first call up as an unused replacement. He marked the occasion by scoring 2 tries in a 35-5 victory over Scotland at the Twickenham Stoop. Later in the season he travelled to Dubai where he was a member of the England squad which achieved 3rd place in the IRB Under-19 World Championship, England's highest ever position in the tournament. Care started the tournament in his customary position at scrum-half but he was selected to start at fly-half in the crucial 3rd/4th place game against France as first choice fly-half Daniel Cipriani had suffered concussion in an earlier game against South Africa. Care scored a try late in the game which was converted to bring the game level at 12-12 - England clinching 3rd place by virtue of out-scoring France 2 tries to nil.
[edit] Harlequins
At the end of the 2005-06 season Care left Leeds Tykes and signed a 3 year contract with Harlequins. Before joining his new club he was a member of the England squad taking part in the IRB Under-21 World Championship in France, making his debut at that level in the opening game against Fiji which England won 34-8. He won 4 caps during the tournament including a starting appearance in the 5th/6th place game against Ireland. Care scored the first try in England's 32-8 victory which gave them 5th place, their highest ever finishing position in the competition.
At Harlequins Care initially found himself understudying Samoan international Steve So'oialo at scrum-half but after disappointing results early in the season the club recruited the experienced Andy Gomarsall, a member of England's World Cup winning squad in 2003. This pushed Care down the pecking order at Harlequins and restricted his game time although he did get opportunities to start in EDF Energy Cup & European Challenge Cup games before making his first Guinness Premiership start for his new club in a memorable 9-3 home win against Bath in January 2007. Later that month he was named as captain of the England Under-20 team for the forthcoming series of Six Nations games, his first experience of captaincy at any level of the game.
Care's debut as captain saw England gain a comfortable 31-5 victory over Scotland at Bath although he was forced to leave the field early in the second half with a bruised hip. A week later Care had recovered sufficiently from his injury to lead his side to a 30-10 victory over Italy, again at Bath, although England's Grand Slam ambitions were thwarted in the next game 2 weeks later when they lost narrowly 13-6 against Ireland in Athlone. England finished the championship in 3rd place after losing 32-13 to France at Northampton and drawing 21-21 against Wales at Newport with Care captaining the side in all 5 games.
After completing the Six Nations Championship with the England Under-20 team Care was recalled to the England Sevens squad for the Hong Kong & Adelaide legs of the IRB Sevens Tournament during late March / early April 2007. England were knocked out at the quarter final stage in both tournaments. In Hong Kong they lost to New Zealand and in Adelaide they were beaten by Kenya.
At the end of the season Care was part of the Harlequins squad which won the London Floodlit Sevens title at Rosslyn Park for the first time since 1987 before joining up again with the England Sevens squad for the final legs of the 2006/2007 IRB Sevens series at Twickenham & Murrayfield. At Twickenham England failed to qualify for the quarter finals of the Cup after a disastrous 22-0 defeat at the hands of Wales on Day 1. The highlight for Care was a hat-trick of tries in a 17-14 victory over South Africa. On Day 2 England beat Kenya, France & Portugal to win the Bowl competition.
A week later at Murrayfield England again disappointed on Day 1 by failing to qualify for the quarter finals of the Cup after defeats against Argentina & New Zealand. However, once again the team bounced back strongly on Day 2 to win the Bowl beating Portugal 31-0 in the final. Due to the late withdrawal from the squad of England Sevens captain Simon Amor following the birth of his first child, Care was asked to take on additional responsibility by assuming the main play-maker role within the team. He responded by being the 2nd highest scorer in the tournament with 42 points (4 tries + 11 conversions) including 2 spectacular individual tries in a thrilling 24-19 victory over Australia in the Bowl semi-final which went into extra-time.
The start of the 2007-08 season presented Care with a chance of an extended run as starting scrum-half at Harlequins as Andy Gomarsall & Steve So'oialo were away at the Rugby World Cup in France with England & Samoa respectively. A good pre-season led to selection for the opening Guinness Premiership fixture of the season in the London Double Header against London Irish at Twickenham. Care was prominent as Harlequins beat London Irish 35-27 although he was forced to leave the field with an ankle injury mid-way through the second half and was sidelined for 5 weeks. By the time he had recovered Gomarsall & So'oialo had returned to club action and game time was limited in the Premiership although he did start several games in the Heineken Cup & EDF Energy Cup. However the lack of game time did not prevent his call up for the England Saxons training squad in January 2008, followed a few days later by selection for the England Sevens squad to play in Wellington in the New Zealand leg of the IRB Sevens. In Wellington England again disappointed on Day 1 losing all 3 games, including an embarrassing defeat against the Cook Islands. However, as at Twickenham & Murrayfield in 2007, the team bounced back on Day 2 to win the Bowl, beating Argentina 12-7 in the Final. On his return from Wellington he was called into the England Saxons training squad and selected as a replacement for the game against Italy A in Ragusa, Sicily in February 2008. Care made his Saxons debut in the 2nd half helping the team to a comfortable 38-15 victory.
Care's performances during the early part of 2008 earned him a call-up to the England training squad before the Six Nations games against Scotland & Ireland although he was not included in the final 22 for either game. He was named as the Guinness Premiership Player of the Month for March 2008 and in May he was selected for the England squad for the end of season game against the Barbarians and the summer tour to New Zealand. Care made his England debut as a 2nd half replacement in the "non-cap" game against the Barbarians at Twickenham which England won 17-14.
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