Daniel Care
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Daniel Stuart Care (born 2 January 1987 in Leeds) is a rugby union footballer who plays at scrum-half and fly-half for Harlequins and England Sevens.
Care first played rugby union as a 6 year old with his local club, West Park Bramhope, in Leeds although his first love was soccer. At the age of 11 he was invited to join the Academy at Sheffield Wednesday Football Club which meant giving up club rugby although he was able to continue playing the game at Prince Henry's Grammar School in Otley.
He helped Prince Henry's win the Yorkshire Cup for Under-13's 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 forced to choose between soccer & rugby union and he asked Sheffield Wednesday to release him from his Academy contract so that he could concentrate on rugby and by the end of the season he had been selected for Yorkshire Schools Under-15's, his first taste of representative rugby which included a man-of-the-match performance in the Roses game against Lancashire at Pontefract.
Further honours followed next season with selection for Yorkshire and the North of England before making his debut for England Schools Under-16's against Wales at Neath in April 2003. By now Care had resumed club rugby with Otley and the season also brought another Yorkshire Cup success at Under-16's with Prince Henry's.
Care's progress led to an invitation to join the Leeds Tykes Academy at the start of the 2003-04 season - a season which ended with Tykes winning the National Colts Cup for Under-19's and Care being named as Tykes' Players Young Player of the Year. At school level Care helped Prince Henry's to success in the Yorkshire Cup for Under-18's as well as a famous victory at Twickenham in the final of the Daily Mail Under-18 Vase where he scored 13 points in an 18-11 win against St Columba's College from St Albans. The season finished with selection for the England Clubs Under-18's squad for the Four Nations Tournament held in Belfast where he played against Ireland, Scotland & Wales. He also received a late call up to the replacements' bench for England Under-19's against Ireland although he was not used.
The following season saw further progress at Leeds Tykes where he made his first XV debut on the wing as a second-half replacement in a pre-season friendly against Exeter Chiefs. His continued involvement with the England Under-19 squad resulted in selection for Team England in the rugby sevens at the 2004 Commonwealth Youth Games in Bendigo, Australia, his first experience of sevens. England came home with the silver medal, losing narrowly 26-24 to the hosts, Australia, in the Final. Care scored 7 tries during the tournament making him the top try scorer in the competition.
Having been an unused replacement for Tykes in home and away European Challenge Cup games against Grenoble, Care finally made his competitive debut for the club at fly-half away to Valladolid in Spain in the European Challenge Shield just a week after returning from Australia. His involvement lasted just 23 minutes before he suffered a broken leg, by which time he had scored a try and kicked 3 conversions.
Despite Care's injury Tykes came forward with the offer of his first professional contract which he signed in December 2004.
Whilst the injury prevented Care taking part in any of England's Under-19 Six Nations games that season he was selected for the squad which travelled to South Africa for the IRB Under-19 World Championship. Unfortunately a knee injury sustained whilst recovering from the broken leg forced him to return home to undergo surgery without playing any part in the Tournament.
After a summer spent getting fit and completing his A-level studies at Prince Henry's, Care was able to join Tykes on a full-time basis with the opportunity to train alongside All Black scrum half legend Justin Marshall who signed for the club during the close season. A pre-season injury to Tykes' 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).
Early in the season he was named in the core squad for the senior England Sevens team and made his debut at Wellington in the New Zealand leg of the IRB Sevens series. England lost to France in the quarter final of the Cup but bounced back to beat Argentina in the final of the Plate. The squad moved straight on to Los Angeles where they beat Fiji in the final of the Cup to record England's first ever win in the USA leg of the IRB Sevens.
Care's performances in Wellington & Los Angeles earned him selection for Team England at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne where he picked up a silver medal after defeat by New Zealand in the final of the competition, England's first ever medal in the Games at Rugby Sevens. This success gave Care a unique double as the only England rugby player to win medals at the Commonwealth Youth Games and the senior Commonwealth Games.
In between Los Angeles and Melbourne Care had belatedly had the opportunity to make his debut for the England Under-19 team - 2 years after his first call up as an unused replacement. He marked the occasion by scoring 2 tries in a 35-5 victory over Scotland at the Twickenham Stoop. Later in the season he travelled to Dubai where he was a member of the England squad which achieved 3rd place in the IRB Under-19 World Championship, England's highest ever position in the tournament. Care started the tournament in his customary position at scrum-half but he was selected to start at fly-half in the crucial 3rd-4th place game against France as first choice fly-half Daniel Cipriani had suffered concussion in an earlier game against South Africa. Care scored a try late in the game which was converted to bring the game level at 12-12 - England clinching 3rd place by virtue of out-scoring France 2 tries to nil.
At the end of the 2005-06 season Care left Leeds Tykes and signed a 3 year contract with Harlequins. Before joining his new club he was a member of the England squad taking part in the IRB Under-21 World Championship in France, making his debut at that level in the opening game against Fiji which England won 34-8. He won 4 caps during the tournament including a starting appearance in the 5th/6th place game against Ireland. Care scored the first try in England's 32-8 victory which gave them 5th place, their highest ever finishing position in the competition.
