Danny Care: Europe's Ryder Cup heroes are England's Rugby World Cup inspiration

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Jonny May, George Ford, Care and Jamie George in their good luck video to Team Europe (Image: @englandrugby/Instagram)
Jonny May, George Ford, Care and Jamie George in their good luck video to Team Europe (Image: @englandrugby/Instagram)

England are taking inspiration from Europe’s Ryder Cup heroes into the business end of the Rugby World Cup.

Danny Care revealed that the spirit shown by Luke Donald’s band of brothers had left a lasting impression on him and his team mates in France.

“The way they hung in together, fought for everything, those little half points that they saved,” said the scrum-half. “We definitely take inspiration from those lads.

"They looked more aligned and close than the American team did. You could see it, you could feel it just watching on the screens, how much it meant to them.

“That’s definitely something we’re trying to harness. Team spirit is the reason the best are successful. I don’t know many environments where you win without one.”

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England play Samoa in their final pool game on Saturday before heading to Marseille for a quarter-final against, probably, Fiji.

Danny Care: Europe's Ryder Cup heroes are England's Rugby World Cup inspirationLuke Donald and his triumphant European Ryder Cup team celebrate their Roman conquest (above) and (below) Freddie Steward. Elliot Daly and Joe Marchant enjoy an England try against Japan (AP)
Danny Care: Europe's Ryder Cup heroes are England's Rugby World Cup inspiration (PA)

A side written off a month ago after losing six of nine matches under Steve Borthwick is unbeaten in the tournament.

“I’m not just saying it because I’m here but I feel this team is one of the closest I’ve been in, if not the closest,” said Care, one of four stars to take part in an England good luck video sent to Team Donald.

“The spirit in this squad stands out [from previous campaigns]. Everyone’s got the same goal, everyone’s on the same page, because we know it’s going to take everyone to win this.

Danny Care: Europe's Ryder Cup heroes are England's Rugby World Cup inspirationJustin Rose and Jon Rahm celebrate winning the Ryder Cup. (Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

“There’s 33 lads here, only 23 get to play at the weekend, but the 10 that aren’t involved are equally as important. At the moment, touch wood, we’ve got that right.”

Care says the spirit in Steve Borthwick’s squad was forged in adversity up when they could not buy a win and were haemorrhaging tries.

“Sometimes you have to go through some bad stuff to get to the good stuff,” he said. “Maybe our bad stuff was those warm-up games, to get us to look at ourselves and go ‘right, we need to pull together a little bit’.

Danny Care: Europe's Ryder Cup heroes are England's Rugby World Cup inspirationTheo Dan feels the love of team mates Daly and David Ribbans after scoring against Ch=ile (Andrew Fosker/REX/Shutterstock)

“You’ve got to give credit to the leaders, especially Owen Farrell, because he’s had a tougher time than anyone [with his ban] yet still had the drive to put the team first.

“Obviously there were a lot of questions thrown at us after those games and it hurt, as it should do when you play like that for your country. We’re trying to use that.”

Care, meanwhile, thinks England players would welcome the introduction of hybrid contracts if it means the nation's best stay in the Premiership.

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Danny Care: Europe's Ryder Cup heroes are England's Rugby World Cup inspirationCare: “I’m not just saying it because I’m here but I feel this team is one of the closest I’ve been in, if not the closest”

Talks aimed at allowing Red Rose coaches more control over their star names in return for an increased pay day for cash-strapped clubs are at an advanced stage.

Care said: ”England needs to have the best players playing in England. If there are ways we can do that, which might help the club game and help clubs be more sustainable, I think the players would be on board with that."

Alex Spink

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