Dynamic duo who thrived on rivalry

IT'S very rare that two players dominate as international scrum-halves for as long as Ben Youngs and Danny Care have for England.

- JEREMY GUSCOTT

Both centurions announced their retirements from the club game over the last couple of weeks, with Leicester’s Youngs finishing as England’s most capped player on 127, and Harlequins’ Care notching 101 caps, and that longevity at the highest level of the game demands respect.

Care’s Test career spanned 16 years from his first cap in 2008 to his last in 2024, while Youngs’was slightly shorter at 13 years from his first cap in 2010 to his last in England’s third-place victory over Argentina at the 2023 World Cup.

The only England scrum-half rivalry that compares with it in the pro era was that between Matt Dawson and Kyran Bracken more than two decades ago, when it appeared that Dawson edged it by becoming the 1997 Lions Test scrum-half and being given the No.9 shirt for the 2003 World Cup final.

In a similar way Youngs, 35, eventually had the edge over Care, 38, because, having lost favour with Eddie Jones, it was a long time between drinks for the Quins scrum-half when he was dropped from the England squad for three years (2018-2022).

However, of the two, Care managed to have the last appearance in an England shirt after being recalled for the 2024 Six Nations by head coach Steve Borthwick, winning his 100th cap in the 23-22 victory over Ireland before bowing out after the narrow away loss to France.

Care is seen as a scrum-half who could attack from the base very quickly, often making breaks by darting across and then cutting back inside. The only surprising thing, given that he’d been an apprentice at Sheffield Wednesday, was that early on in his career his box-kicking wasn’t that good-although it improved significantly later on.