Battle for England job will boost Lions dream – Care

Danny Care has vowed to fight tooth and claw to see off his No.9 rivals and give himself the best shot at touring with the Lions this summer.
Care, 30, is in the last chance saloon for Lions selection, having come close to making previous trips to South Africa and Australia.
With Ben Youngs England‘s first choice in November and Red Rose hopefuls Dan Robson and Ben Spencer snapping at his heels, Care accepts he has it all to do to board the plane to New Zealand in May.
The 66-cap Care told The Rugby Paper: “There are great players around so I’m not pinning all my hopes on being selected, but what an unbelievable tour it will be and it’s a real goal after missing out on the last two tours in 2009 and 2013.
“I was the next scrum-half at home waiting for the call. It didn’t come unfortunately but it’s one of those things I’d love to do and if I get a chance to play well for England in the Six Nations, hopefully Warren Gatland will know I can do the job.
“Youngsy and I have been battling it out and he played well in the autumn and deserved his place, but Eddie Jones gave me things to work on, which was great, and hopefully I’m improving enough to regain the No.9 jersey for the Six Nations.
“I understand Eddie’s decisions and my role for the autumn was to come off the bench and finish things. I think I did that well but the key thing now is to show I can be a starter as well as a finisher and hopefully I’ll get my chance this time.”
Care admits he is feeling the heat from Robson and Spencer, adding: “Massively! You’ve got to stay on your toes and I’ve always been aware of Dan. He was a great player down at Gloucester and I used to think, ‘this kid’s going to be good’.
“He’s battling it out with Joe Simpson at Wasps and they’ve shared the load, while Ben Spencer’s another really good player who’s been sitting behind Richard Wigglesworth at Saracens.
“The competition’s good though because as an individual you have to raise your game. We’re all aware of the honour of wearing that shirt and you’ve got to do it proud because there are other lads who feel they could probably do a better job.
“There are four or five players in every position who could lay claim to start for England, so you’re only one bad game from not being there.”
England will head into the Six Nations with a big, bold target on their backs after last year’s Grand Slam and subsequent unbeaten run. However, Care agrees with head coach Jones’ recent assertion that his side can be 25 per cent better.
He said: “We’re second in the world at the moment but we still don’t think we’ve played as well as we can and Eddie’s made that pretty clear.
“We had great success last year but I don’t think there’s one game you could go, ‘yeah, that was a 100 per cent game’. We showed glimpses of brilliant stuff but it’s now about putting in 80-minute performances and doing it again and again.
“There’s a lot more to come from this squad and hopefully we can keep pushing on. I don’t think you can ever get to 100 per cent, but I agree with Eddie that we need to be pushing into the 90s to challenge New Zealand for the No.1 slot.”
As for a Grand Slam repeat, Care added: “We’ll come out firing. It’s such a special tournament and after the emotions of last year and how amazing it felt to win that Grand Slam after such a long time, it’s something you want to do over and over.
“All our focus is on winning the first game against France and then we’ll try and move on. Winning a Slam is hard but we’ll give it our best shot.”
NEALE HARVEY