Care backs Johnson philosophy
Thursday, 20 Nov 2008 09:22
Danny Care has thanked manager Martin Johnson for his support
England scrum-half Danny Care has paid tribute to team manager Martin Johnson for keeping faith with himself and fellow youngster Danny Cipriani.
Despite suffering a 14-28 defeat to Australia at Twickenham last weekend, Johnson has made only one change to the team to face world champions South Africa this Saturday.
And Care, 21, has lent his support to Johnson's vision for the future, which appears to focus on having a settled side.
"It's great that Martin [Johnson] has trusted us to go out there and play," he said.
"If there had been a lot of changes it could have made it harder for us to gel together."
Care's half-back partner Danny Cipriani, who is also 21 and due to start only his fourth international match against the Springboks, backed the team to bounce back from the Wallabies defeat.
"Some of us didn't play as well as we should have done last week but we are confident," he said.
"I have confidence in my ability and we know what we can achieve as a team.
"Last week we made some mistakes but at times we played some good rugby. We're striving for consistency."
Care admitted to feeling "frustration" at the Australia loss, but said the team would use the disappointment to inspire them in future matches.
"Frustration drives us on," the Harlequins number nine added.
"It's a great motivational tool and you couldn't ask for a bigger game to redeem how we played last week.
"Losing an international match is heartbreaking, we want to win every game. Hopefully that will start on Saturday."