"He will be devastated he fell out with Eddie Jones"
By Rugby Onslaught

“He will be devastated he fell out with Eddie Jones”

There have been plenty of players who have been ostracised by Eddie Jones during his time with England- some have found their way back, some have not.

Sam Simmonds is probably the first name that comes screaming to mind of a player who spent a very long time out of England camps- much to the fury of the fans- but has found his way back in again. But there were some who were staples of Jones’ squad right up until England’s horror 2018 and then never donned the white shirt again- Danny Care is one of those.

The Harlequins scrum-half would have accepted by now that he will not be capped again at the age of 35, but that does not mean he is not still at the top of his game.

England have struggled for four years since Care last was capped to find a suitable back up/ rival to Ben Youngs and while Jones may have struck upon some now, the 84-cap Care has been on his doorstep the whole time.

Care’s axing from the England squad has baffled many, including pundit Ben Kay. The lock’s Test career just overlapped with Cares in 2008 and 2009, so he will have first hand experience of what a player the No9 is on top of the many years of watching him.

Ahead of Quins’ match against Newcastle Falcons at the Stoop last night, Kay voiced his utter disbelief in the way he has been treated over the last four years.

“Every coach wants a Danny Care apart from one really important coach to Danny Care,” the World Cup winner said. “Whatever he’s done to get out of Eddie Jones’ good books I don’t know because he’s been outstanding. Not just those tries scored, but what he does for the whole team and we’ve got some stats here of the number of assists he’s made [last five seasons- all competitions and internationals] and look at the company he’s around there. In the last five seasons he’s right at the top [second], less games than Finn Russell but one less try assist. To have that try scoring record [Quins’ try scoring record], but to be creating that much for other people as well.

“He will be devastated he fell out with Eddie Jones but the Harlequins coaches must be thinking ‘this is the best thing that could have happened to the club’ and it’s no surprise that Harlequins, since he’s been out of the England fold, have been up near the top of the table and winning.”

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