Danny Care will come out fighting says Conor O’Shea
Yorkshireman Care began England’s autumn series as first choice, but two average displays against New Zealand and South Africa saw him replaced by Ben Youngs, then ditched from the squad completely for Saracens’ Richard Wigglesworth.
O’Shea told TRP: “I’m disappointed for Danny but nobody has a divine right to be picked for anything. Being dropped and coming back is part and parcel of sport – you have adversity, elation, wins, losses and get dropped.
“It happened to me with Ireland and some people shy away from that while others react positively.
“Danny has always reacted in the right way and I expect to see him back in there. All I’ve said to him is he’s nothing to prove to anybody at all, except perhaps to himself. He doesn’t need to push too hard to make things happen, they will happen for him if the team plays well.
“Would he rather have been playing for England or for us at Bath on Friday? He’d have preferred to play against Australia, but he’s with us now and we owe him. We’ve a big period ahead if we are to have a successful season.”
O’Shea concedes Quins are struggling to hit the heights of previous years. Their try-scoring rate has dipped from the halcyon days of 2011-13 and, as Sale boss Steve Diamond alluded after his side’s win at the Stoop last week, they are easier to defend against.
But O’Shea has vowed Quins will come out fighting and has urged critics to hold their fire ahead of what he describes as a season-defining eight weeks.
“The table never lies and we’re behind the eight-ball,” O’Shea admitted. “We’re not holding onto the ball through phases as much as we want and you have to credit opposition, because the game is changing ever so slightly and we need to adapt.
“Most sides are adopting an aerial kicking game, but we know what we need to inject into our game to be more accurate and get our inside game going.
“I’ve no doubt our game will come. We know we need to get a string of results but we now face a period of eight weeks when all our players are back and I’ll talk again when we’ve finished our Champions Cup Pool against Castres in January.
“We’ve two huge European games with Leinster, then Newcastle at home, Northampton in the Big Game, London Welsh away and Leicester at home. Then we’ve got Wasps and Castres in Europe and will know after that what we need to do.
“Are we frustrated at times? Yes, because we’ve dropped games we should be winning. But you’re never far off and our season will go to the wire.”
NEALE HARVEY
