Wednesday 3 December 2014 15:17, UK
Harlequins boss Conor O’Shea says England boss Stuart Lancaster must pick Danny Care as scrum-half if he wants to win the World Cup.
Lancaster dropped Care for Ben Youngs for Saturday’s match with Australia, and the Leicester No 9 impressed in partnership with Bath fly-half George Ford.
Care suffered a wretched afternoon in England's 31-28 defeat to South Africa, throwing a pass for an interception try from Jan Serfontein.
Harlequins face a pivotal European Champions Cup double-header against Leinster in the next fortnight, where O'Shea has tipped 27-year-old Care to show his true colours.
"Stuart Lancaster has got great options for England now, and that's what any coach wants," he said. "But I know if I was to pick somebody to win a World Cup it would be Danny Care.
You gain your international recognition by playing for your club and playing well, and that's why he's got 50 caps.
"You gain your international recognition by playing for your club and playing well, and that's why he's got 50 caps - and I hazard a guess he'll have 50 more by the end of his career."
England salvaged some pride from an otherwise disappointing autumn thanks wholly to their dominance up front, where their scrum smashed the Wallabies eight.
Youngs and Richard Wigglesworth filled the starting and replacement scrum-half slots, with Care overlooked and released for club duty.
England still struggled for midfield fluency despite Ford and Billy Twelvetrees pairing up at 10 and 12 with Owen Farrell dropped to the bench.
O'Shea believes Lancaster now boasts a healthy amount of selection options for next year's Six Nations, but continued to throw his weight behind Care's cause.
"No one has a divine right for anything, to win matches or even win selection," said former Ireland full-back O'Shea.
Written off
"Nothing is handed to you, you don't get success or win trophies because you pull on a jersey and take the field. Everyone has to be reminded of that every once in a while.
"So I'm sure the reaction from Danny, which has always been the case, and the case with our group, when you're written off, you come back and you prove people wrong. And sometimes that's the added motivation that gets you on the edge.
"Should that be the case? You'd love it to be self-driven all the time, but sometimes you need that external motivation and that can be driven by taking up a challenge and proving people wrong.
"And if that's what gets the juices flowing then if that gets you going that's great."
