Danny Care - Sevens Career

Sevens Career

Early in the 2005–06 season he was named in the core squad for the senior England Sevens team and in February 2006 he 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 and 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.