By Aimee Lewis

Care made his England debut against New Zealand in June

It's the 6 September 2008, a balmy early autumn afternoon at Twickenham.

Saracens are playing Harlequins on the opening weekend of the Guinness Premiership.

Echoing around the famous stands, fans can hear Sarries and England captain Steve Borthwick yelling: "I've got Care! I've got Care!"

The season has barely begun but Danny Care, the man Martin Johnson has chosen as the first scrum-half of his England reign against the Pacific Islanders on Saturday, is already a marked man.

Not that the diminutive 21-year-old is too concerned about towering 17-stone forwards. After all, it's not like they can catch him.

Care's potent breaks, a razor-sharp service and a kicking game befitting a former Sheffield Wednesday apprentice made his selection one of the easier decisions of Johnson's short tenure.

"I'm biased but I think Danny has been the form English number nine by a country mile," says Care's Harlequins team-mate and rival Andy Gomarsall, who was wearing the red rose number nine shirt, in a World Cup final no less, himself barely 12 months ago.

"He has all the ability to be England's scrum-half at the next World Cup and beyond. He just needs to gain experience of running a game for England and that will make him an even better player."

I've tried to become more of a leader, to boss the boys in front, give them a kick up the backside Danny Care

But it has not all been plain sailing for a young man Quins boss Dean Richards has labelled "one of the most exciting young players in England".

Care signed for the Londoners from Leeds Tykes after their relegation in 2006, but the experienced Gomarsall and Steve So'oialo blocked his path initially.

Care thought about leaving The Stoop during a frustrating first season, but now recognises that a period spent working on his core scrum-half skills has served him well.

"I've watched and I've learnt," said the Leeds-born Care.

His passing has come on leaps and bounds Quins team-mate Andy Gomarsall

Care has certainly done that since taking his chance when Gomarsall was on Six Nations duty for the early part of England's campaign this year, usurping his mentor for the remainder of the season.

"Part of my job when I first came to Harlequins was to work with Danny and in the two years I have spent with him he has improved," Gomarsall says.

"At first I didn't think he was physically up to playing in the Premiership, so he bulked up and now he's in physical shape to play professional rugby.

"He had lightening speed off the mark but there were areas of weakness to work on and he's a guy who wants to develop and get better all the time. He wants people to help him.

"His passing has come on leaps and bounds in the last year and it means England can play wider and with more width, and Danny has the gas to exploit those gaps."

He has all the makings of a great international; He's a great organiser and a great communicator Phil Davies

Davies believes Care's character was formed when the 5ft 9in Yorkshireman was told he was too small to play professional football, his first sporting love, after three years in Sheffield Wednesday's Academy.

"You could see from the beginning that he was very keen to learn and that's what I look for in a young player," Davies told BBC Sport.

"He had composure and the right mindset. When you see a lot of young players, the ones that come through at a young age are the ones with good temperament and Danny's certainly got that.

"He has all the makings of a great international; He's a great organiser and a great communicator.

"He always concentrated on his kicking and passing and anything you told him to work on he would do and the benefits of that are starting to show."

A series of starring roles in a Quins side playing some of the best attacking rugby in the country has certainly made him a favourite with headline-writers: 'Care required to steer Quins home', 'Intensive Care provides Quins remedy', 'Classy Care demolishes Ulster'.

ENGLAND NO 9'S - LAST 30 TESTS Andy Gomarsall (nine starts) Shaun Perry (seven) Richard Wigglesworth (four) Peter Richards (four) Harry Ellis (five) Danny Care (one)

Leicester's Harry Ellis, on the replacements' bench on Saturday, is returning to the sort of form which would have sent him to the 2007 World Cup had a serious knee injury not intervened.

Instead Johnson's predecessor, Brian Ashton, took Gomarsall, Peter Richards - still in the elite squad - and Shaun Perry to France.

Perry was ignominiously hauled off at half-time in the 36-0 pool rout by South Africa, whereupon Gomarsall stepped in to play a blinder as England somehow steered a path to the final.

But he in turn found himself unceremoniously ditched two games into this year's Six Nations, when Richard Wigglesworth was the latest to be handed the jersey.

The Sale man lasted until the second Test of this summer's disastrous tour of New Zealand when Care, who impressed as a replacement in the first Test, was given his head in Christchurch, and promptly scored a try on his full debut.

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Care will partner the precocious Danny Cipriani at half-back on Saturday in a reunion of two former England Schools team-mates, who also played together in the Junior World Cup in Dubai two years ago.

The partnership may be inexperienced, with only five caps - and one start apiece - between them, but England will not be lacking in speed or attacking instinct at half-back.

"Danny is�very quick and�very confident in his own ability," England centre Jamie Noon, who played outside Care on his debut in New Zealand, told BBC Sport.

"He really took the game to them and that was impressive for such a young player. He was undoubtedly one of the finds of the tour for England, and hopefully he can impress again this month."

If Care and Cipriani live up to their billing in the coming weeks, England may just have found the perfect half-back formula: E=DC�.

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