Sawt Falasteen - England's Care says World Cup 'dream' never died

A veteran of 90 England caps, the 36-year-old Care has incredibly only ever played one World Cup match in his career: a 60-3 thrashing of Uruguay in what was essentially a dead rubber pool stage match in 2015.

"I'm one from one (in) World Cup games," quipped Care at England's training base in northern France.

But Care's World Cup experience has been a painful one so far.

An England international since 2008, Care was injured just before the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand, having already been named in the squad.

Four years later on home soil he was third choice scrum-half, meaning he only played in the final pool game when England were already eliminated.

But most painfully, he was dropped by Australian Eddie Jones just before the 2019 World Cup in Japan, and gallingly replaced by New Zealand-born Willi Heinz, who only made his England debut in a warm-up match just before the competition began.

"If you'd asked me a couple of years ago if I thought I'd play in another World Cup game, the answer would probably have been no," said Care.

"I still had the little dream of this one. Obviously watching from home in 2019, I was so proud about the lads that got to where they did."

England lost to South Africa in the final after raising the hopes of a nation with a stunning dismantling of New Zealand in the semi-finals.

"To come that close, a lot of the lads I've been (playing) with for a long time, I know how much it hurt them then and how much they want to rectify that by going all the way this time.

"I feel like I'm in that journey, even though I wasn't there in 2019.

"There's a few of us in that boat, it's probably our final opportunity, but what an opportunity we've got."

Ironically, this time it was an injury to first choice scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet that opened the door to Care for an unexpected call-up.

And ahead of England's Group D opener against Argentina in Marseille on Saturday, the Harlequins back could barely contain his excitement.

"For me personally, it's probably the biggest week of my career: to play in this World Cup game, hopefully," said Care.

Y.AlMasri--SF-PST