Danny Care

Daniel Stuart Care (born 2 January 1987) is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a scrum-half for Premiership Rugby club Harlequins and the England national team.

Care was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire.

He first played rugby union at age 6, with his local club in Leeds, West Park Bramhope RUFC (now called West Park Leeds RUFC).

At age 11 he was invited to join the Academy at Sheffield Wednesday Football Club which meant giving up club rugby union although he continued playing the game at Prince Henry's Grammar School, Otley.

He helped Prince Henry's win the Under-13 Yorkshire Cup 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 released from Sheffield Wednesday academy, and could concentrate on rugby union.

By the end of the season he had been selected for Yorkshire Schools' Under-15's. The next season he was also selected for Yorkshire and the North of England before making his debut for England Schools' Under-16s against Wales at Neath in April 2003.

Care had resumed club rugby union with Otley and the season also brought another Yorkshire Cup success at Under-16's with Prince Henry's.

Care joined the Leeds Tykes academy at the start of the 2003–04 season.

Leeds won the National Under-19 Colts Cup that season and Care was named as Tykes' Players' Young Player of the Year.

At school level Care spent the season playing at fly-half and helped Prince Henry's to win the Daily Mail Under-18 Vase at Twickenham, he scored 13 points in an 18–11 win against St Columba's College, St Albans.

He was selected for the England Clubs Under-18's squad for the Four Nations Tournament held in Belfast where he played against Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Care played 20 times for the England youth setup scoring 25 points between 2003 and 2007.

In 2003 Care made his first XV for Leeds Tykes on the wing as a second-half replacement in a pre-season friendly against Exeter Chiefs.

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.

He also played for England sevens in the 2004 youth commonwealth games in Bendigo Australia.

He was selected for Team England in the rugby sevens at the 2004 Commonwealth Youth Games in Bendigo, Australia, his first experience of sevens.

England won the silver medal, losing 26–24 to the hosts, Australia, in the Final.

Care was top try scorer in the competition with 7 tries.

He was an unused replacement for Leeds in home and away European Challenge Cup games against Grenoble, Care made his competitive debut at fly-half away to Valladolid RAC, in Spain, in the European Challenge Shield a week after returning from Australia.

His involvement lasted 23 minutes before he suffered a broken leg, by which time he had scored a try and kicked 4 conversions.

Care signed his first professional contract with Leeds in December 2004.

After completing his A-level studies at Prince Henry's, Care joined Leeds on a full-time basis alongside All Black scrum-half legend Justin Marshall who signed for the club during the close season.

A pre-season injury to Leeds' 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).

In the summer of 2006 Care signed a 3-year contract with Harlequins.

This restricted his game time, he started in the EDF Energy Cup and European Challenge Cup games before making his first Guinness Premiership start for Harlequins in a 9–3 home win against Bath in January 2007.

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 and Steve So'oialo were away at the Rugby World Cup in France with England and Samoa respectively.

He was selected for the London Double Header, the first fixture of the season, against London Irish at Twickenham.

Care was prominent as Harlequins beat London Irish 35–27, he was injured in the match and sidelined for 5 weeks.

By the time he had recovered Gomarsall and So'oialo had returned to club action and game time was limited in the Premiership.

He started several games in the Heineken Cup and EDF Energy Cup.

At the end of the domestic season Care was shortlisted for the Guinness Premiership Young Player of the Year Award – he finished 3rd behind Ben Foden and the winner, Danny Cipriani.

Care had a successful season at club level in 2008–09 with Harlequins who finished 2nd in the Guinness Premiership and reached the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup, at that point the club's best season in the professional era.

At the end of the domestic season Care was shortlisted for the PRA Young Player of the Year Award which was voted for by his fellow professionals – he finished 3rd in the voting behind Tom Croft and the winner, Ben Foden.

In August 2010 Care agreed a 2-year contract extension with Harlequins, committing himself to the club until June 2013.

Care had a successful season at club level with Harlequins as the club won the Amlin Challenge Cup, the 2nd tier European club rugby competition.

Quins came top of their Pool which consisted of Bayonne, Connacht and I Cavalieri Prato, and beat Wasps at home in the quarter-final and Munster away in the semi-final, with Care scoring in both games.

The final was at the Cardiff City Stadium against Stade Francais.

Care agreed a 2-year contract extension with Harlequins, committing himself to the club until June 2011.