Care revelling in World Cup chance he thought had long gone

PARIS : Danny Care is looking forward to Saturday's World Cup semi-final with all the excitement that would be expected from a 36-year-old who long thought his only experience of rugby's greatest event would be a dead rubber against Uruguay in 2015.

Scrumhalf Care is expected to continue his role of coming off the bench to replace Alex Mitchell, using his experience to close out - and in the case of Samoa - win games.

It is all a very unlikely international swansong for Care, who, until this year, had a bitter experience of the World Cup.

He was selected for the 2011 tournament but could not go due to injury. In 2015 he was involved only in England's final pool game against Uruguay, with England already eliminated from their own tournament, while he was not part of Eddie Jones's squad 2019.

Care was brought back into the fold in June last year by Jones after four years in the wilderness but then left out again until Steve Borthwick called him up to the England World Cup squad, where he has forced his way in front of Ben Youngs as back-up to Mitchell.

Four years ago he could not watch as Youngs was part of an England team hammered in the final by South Africa but it was not because of the performance. He had been "blown away" by the semi-final victory over New Zealand but said his wife then asked him what he wanted to do about the final.

"I said 'I don't think I can watch it'", Care told the BBC's Rugby Union Daily podcast. "That was the only time it probably hit me what I was missing out on - the chance to play for your country in a World Cup final, which was tough to take.

"I took the kids to Guildford to a trampoline place because I couldn't watch it."

Care, who scored the match-winning try then made a key match-saving tackle