Danny boy determined to put heat on O’Shea
DANNY Care has backed his old Quins boss Conor O’Shea to win his struggle to be an Italian success...but only after England have dished out some more painful Six Nations punishment.
The Harlequins scrumhalf has been handed the No.9 shirt by Eddie Jones for the visit of the Azzurri to Twickenham today, and is hoping to impress enough to keep it for the remaining two games against Scotland and Ireland. Care told The Rugby
Paper: “It’s been a long time since I started (against France last March), and I want to grab this fresh chance.
“I am looking to get a good performance and help the team to a win. Naturally, if I do well and England win well, it will give me a better opportunity to start in the next one.”
Care knows nothing less than a huge performance against opponents that England are expected to beat comfortably will be good enough to have any chance of preventing Ben Youngs from regaining the scrumhalf role.
Thirty-year-old Yorkshireman Care is looking forward to the chance to win his 69th cap, and expects O’Shea to have the visitors – who will start huge underdogs to shock England and bring the 16-
match winning run to a shuddering halt – pumped up to recover some pride.
Heavy losses to Wales and Ireland have left Italy slumped at the bottom of the table and already turned up the pressure on former Stoop hero O’Shea.
He insists: “Conor will be fine. He’s a top man and he will put things right. The Italy job is huge but Conor knew that when he took it. He moved his whole family over there, his two young girls, to a different country.
“You saw instant results with the South Africa game. They have the potential to be a great team, and I think the problem is the consistency.
“Conor won’t just be scratching the surface with the first team. It will be all the way down to the youth levels and developing the next generation of Italian rugby players. He will be doing a great job for them.
“I’ve not spoken to him this week, but I texted him the tournament started to say all the best, and he said the same back.
“It will be good to catch up with him on Sunday.
“Italy will be keen to get at us hard and early up front.
“They always have a very strong, steady pack who can cause problems if they get on the front foot.
“I think they will be disappointed about Ireland and will come out firing this week. Conor and the coaches will get them pumped up which they always are against us.
“They seem to raise their game every time they play England. They will be looking for a better performance than against Ireland, but by the same token we are looking for a better performance.
“We have not played as well as we can yet.”