Mulchrone aiming to capitalise on Karl’s retirement

HARLEQUINS scrum-half Charlie Mulchrone reckons improvements in his gamemanagement will give him the best chance of applying heat to England’s Danny Care as he aims to take advantage of Karl Dickson’s move into refereeing.

Former Macclesfield, Rotherham and Worcester man Mulchrone has had to remain patient since joining Quins last summer, but having recently extended his contract at the Stoop the 27-year-old Mancunian is eyeing a breakthrough. Mulchrone told The

Rugby Paper: “I’m really happy with the contract and I’m loving life here after getting quite a few games now.

“The timing of Danny being away with England and Karl being injured worked in my favour a bit and I was involved in 13 Premiership games, so I was pretty chuffed with that after a not very enjoyable final season at Worcester.

“I got into the Worcester side towards the end of their Championship-winning season but didn’t play much in the Premiership, so to come here and play a lot more made it an easy decision when John Kingston asked me to stay.

“The step up from the Championship is quite big and any mistakes get punished, so it’s all been about tidying up my game and improving my game management. I’ll get my head down and graft now and see what comes.”

Mulchrone, above, added: “Karl’s leaving but we’ll have Dave Lewis coming in, who’s a real good bloke, and Calum Waters is a young lad pushing through from our academy, so we’ve got a good group getting in behind Danny Care.

“I want to get as much rugby as I can next season but the team comes first and if that means Danny starting and me being No.2, I’ll give my all from the bench. But I certainly want to be in there fighting for that starting place.”