England: Danny Care recalled after persuasive pitch to Eddie Jones

David Skippers

Harlequins scrum-half Danny Care’s powers of persuasion coupled with his superb performances for his club played a big part in convincing Eddie Jones to recall him to his England squad.

That was the word from the England head coach, who revealed that he met the 35-year-old over coffee after he congratulated the player on his excellent form for Harlequins.

Creative player

Care has impressed with his creativity at club level and been at the forefront of Harlequins‘ resurgence which has resulted in them winning the Premiership title in 2021 and reaching the semi-finals this season.

He made the last of his 84 England appearances in a victory over Japan at Twickenham in 2018, but lost his place in the Test squad after falling out with Jones following that match against the Brave Blossoms.

The scrum-half has since worked out his differences with Jones – when they met in April – and has been named on England’s replacements bench for Sunday’s clash against the Barbarians at Twickenham.

“Danny has great desire. After a game recently I texted him to say ‘well played’ as I thought he played really well. He came back and said he’d love to catch up,” said Jones.

“We had a coffee and he was very adamant on how keen he was to play for England. Then you get a bit more interested. We’ve been watching him carefully and felt he deserved another opportunity.”

Care has provided the most number of try assists (17) in each of the last two Premiership campaigns and Jones believes his fast-paced style of play suits the modern game.

“The game has changed and the ruck speed suits him,” added Jones.

“The speed of the ball now allows him to play his natural game, whereas when the ruck ball was slower you have to artificially create attacking situations. He is brilliant at the natural attacking situations.”

Care’s partnership with fly-half Marcus Smith was one of Quins’ strengths over the past two seasons, but Jones feels there are still some flaws in that combination.

“They need to develop it. I’ve had a word with them. They need to get tighter. They need to feed off each other better. There’s huge scope for improvement,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jonny May and Joe Cokanasiga will start on the wings for England against the Baa-baas after struggling with injuries in recent times.

May missed the Six Nations after knee surgery while Cokanasiga has not represented his country since sustaining his second major knee injury in pre-season.

They might differ in their approach to the game but both will want to impress Jones, who names his squad for the three Test series against the Wallabies on Monday.

“Jonny’s been fantastic. One of those older experienced players, he’s still got plenty left in him. He’s got another at least five per cent growth in him,” Jones said.

“We’ll see on Sunday if he’s ready for Australia. That’s the beauty of Sunday’s game. He hasn’t played for a long time.

“It wouldn’t matter if the game was being played on Mars, if Joe was playing well he’d be useful.”

London Irish’s teenage star Henry Arundell will miss the match with the Barbarians due to an unspecified injury.

READ MORE: England: Danny Care named on the bench for Barbarians clash as Eddie Jones picks young side