Danny Care interview: My warnings to Marcus Smith - and why I'm still jealous of England mates

It is unusual, to say the least, for one of the country’s best known rugby players to interject mid-interview with the assertion that “journalists are brilliant”. But then this is not just Danny Care the scrum-half. This is Danny Care, the burgeoning media star.

Care, now 35 and still one of the most consistent scrum-halves in the country, is aware that the sun is setting on his playing career. It is why he now combines his day job at Harlequins with hosting the BBC’s rugby podcast. And Care is well placed to judge the players he comes up against each week. “I have had more bad games than anyone,” he laughs.

But for one door to open - to the world where Care is asking the questions, not answering them - another has to close. There had been calls last season, as Quins charged to the title, for Care to be recalled to the England team, but there is now an acceptance that the curtain has fallen on his international career - even if the 84-cap back admits to feeling “jealous” of Marcus Smith, Alex Dombrandt and Joe Marchant when they were in England camp for the autumn internationals.

“There was no envy but there is definitely still jealousy being there and watching them play against South Africa, being in that environment with the crowd again,” Care, who last played for his country in 2018, said. “I would have liked nothing more than to have been out there taking on the World Champions but unfortunately for me that ship has sailed and I can just be a fan and enjoy England play some great rugby with great Quins boys.”

“I have made peace with England and I am so happy for all the boys. Some of the best memories of my life are in an England shirt and now I get to see the joy that the other Quins lads and their families get from playing for England.”
Perhaps part of the reason Care can be both frank and realistic about his England career is that he takes pride from mentoring the next generation of Quins’ internationals - and considers Smith almost as a younger brother.

“Because I am so old now, I am like a fountain of knowledge for these young boys. It is in my nature – I have two kids and these lads aren’t much older than my two kids which is the scary thing,” Care says with a laugh before becoming more serious. “I do feel quite protective. For someone like Marcus, we have played together for almost four years and I have watched him from 16, 17 grow to a man and I am so proud of what he is doing and how he is showing the world the talents he has got.

“But it is also more about the person he is because he is an amazing person and I have always tried to be there as an older brother type figure for him. And he is the first one to come and ask questions and look for advice, I sometimes tell him the stuff not to do – to avoid some of the traps I fell into. They are all great at listening as well as asking for advice.”

'Everybody wants to shut us up a bit from last year'

Care is keen, when asked to share what he, as a current player with a foot in the media world, thinks should be earning more coverage. Discussing how to grow the appeal is something he thinks should be gaining attention and he becomes particularly animated when asked what would he change in rugby to draw in new fans and players.

“I would change a couple of the rules to speed up the game,” he says. “Scrum resets for example - the amount of time it takes in between scrums going down and then going back up, it can be five or six attempts before the ball is back in play,” he says. “I would give them one, two opportunities at most before the ball is just given to one of the teams and you play. I would like to think last season at Harlequins we played a brand of rugby that if somebody turned it on and had not watched a single bit of rugby before, hopefully they would have been entertained.

“But I do feel if someone had watched the Lions Tour having not watched much rugby they might have gone, ‘this isn’t very exciting’. It is about making the game as attacking as possible with the ball in play for longer, that would be definite.”

Just as he is sure of his role at his club, he knows the type of rugby expert in the media he wishes to be. “I probably don’t think too much when I speak but I would like to think I would never dog a player out for having a bad game or anything like that – I have had more bad games than anyone,” he says. “I would hope I would never have to find myself in a situation where I would have to do that. I know some pundits like to be like that, but I don’t think I would ever be that guy. My big thing is about being a good person. I would never have a go at someone else to help me. I always try to be fair and honest while giving my opinion as much as I can.”

Despite this focus on life after rugby, Care is still hungry to ensure his side’s defence of the domestic title but sees a tough road ahead. “It is always hard when you are the hunted team,” he adds. “We were the underdogs last year and no one expected us to win it. We had a bit of a free licence and there wasn’t much expectation. This year everybody wants to beat Quins because they want to shut us up a bit from last year.

“Teams are getting a lot better – it is ultra-competitive. The top four in the league is going to be incredibly hard to get into. Saracens are back, so they are taking up one of those spots. We know we are going to have to play a lot better than we have been this season if we want to be up there challenging at the end.”

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