Care urging fast start

Editor

Scrum-half Danny Care has urged England to start well against Samoa at Twickenham next weekend in their final Test of the year.

Eddie Jones’ men were just a converted try up when scrum half Care replaced Ben Youngs in the 69th minute against Australia on Saturday, but went on to score 17 points in the final 11 minutes of the match.

Care created two tries, courtesy of the boot, before crossing the whitewash for a score of his own, but explains England cannot afford to leave it that late against their Pacific Island opponents next weekend.

“We know we are going to have to start very well against Samoa next weekend; they will come out firing against us. It will be a massive game at Twickenham,” he said.

“I’ve played against them a few times, they are physical, they are fast and we need to get off to a good start against them. We will have to be right on the money to get the result we want.”

Samoan stars
Samoa have never beaten England in seven attempts, but ran Wales close last June – losing out 17-19 – and more recently fell just short of Scotland 44-38 in a game where they scored five tries.

And with the likes of Ofisa Treviranus, Alapati Leiua, Jack Lam and David Lemi among their roster, Samoa are well accustomed to playing rugby in England.

Care knows England’s defence will have to be tight in order to keep the Pacific Islanders off of the score sheet, but was full of praise for the effort shown against the Wallabies on Saturday.

“The work off the ball and scramble defence was just brilliant, we didn’t give them anything,” he said.

30 not out
For Care, next weekend is another opportunity to run out for his country in front of fans, friends and family – moments he now cherishes at the age of 30.

“As a 30-year-old you don’t know how many tries you have left in you, so it was great to get over,” he said of his score last weekend. “It was in the corner where my wife and son were sat watching so that was a nice moment.”

Now for the Harlequin, a return to Pennyhill Park, where preparations will be made for the final international of the calendar year, and Care is ready to put in the hard work.

He added: “We want to win every game we play, we never set targets on how many tries we want to score, we just want to play well and hopefully our performance will take care of the results.”