Rugby doesn’t do sympathy. In many ways, it is a sport as cutthroat as any. The physical load carried by bodies on a week-by-week basis means that if you’re still standing at the end of each season, you’ve probably earned it. Or been incredibly lucky. 

But luck, like time, runs out. By its very nature it is not something you can control. You can’t just keep rolling sixes. So down at the Stoop, in Harlequins’ final home game of a capricious season, West London’s finest stood as one to salute a man who has survived both the cut and thrust of top flight rugby and two decades of crap shooting. 

Leading the team out one final time, Danny Care sauntered onto the pitch with the most precious of cargo. His three kids flanked him as the Stoop sang their own anthem to the tune of Daddy Cool. His hairline may be a thing of contention but the legacy he leaves on the club is anything but. A now paternal figure at this club, Lennox Anyanwu pre-match was at a loss to answer the question ‘how has he done it?’ He revealed a man who seemingly survived on little more than a bar of chocolate a day; whose energy and vitality was his greatest asset. Nineteen years he’s played first team rugby at Harlequins. If that record will ever be beaten, that person will have been one hell of a player.

Talking of good players, Cadan got the party started. Very infrequently have Isgro and Murley been in the same fifteen this season, and a pass as accurate as it was handsome spiralled off the Argentine’s right hand. Murley stole forward unopposed. Made merry by the occasion rather than overawed by it, Quins were away and racing. 

Marcus Smith goosed his step a few times, Tyrone Green twisted and turned like it was 2021, and Jack Kennigham rode his untidy horse with familiar aplomb. There was little that Exeter could do than tackle. Or at least attempt to tackle. 

Meanwhile, DC took to the field to warm up. The Stoop crowd responded. They cheered every trundle and wolf whistled each hamstring stretch. As the sun shone, Care basked in decades worth of adulation. But as one scrum half enjoyed the spoils of a career in the spotlight, the pretender to the throne reminded everyone that rugby has a way of constantly evolving. 

Will Porter, whose form this season has been a genuine positive for the club, sniped his way indignantly through a crowd. Porter is a 9 in a mould provided by Care. Few parts of his game need much work and if England need an able deputy to the all-court game of Alex Mitchell, Porter could prove himself an excellent option. I would certainly expect him to be in the conversation to tour this summer. 

But much as though there has been positives this season, there have also been negatives. To make the point, having no sooner extended their lead to 14 points, Harlequins conceded a soft Chiefs’ opener. And then another. Exeter’s season has been even more tumultuous than Quins’ and nothing prepares you for going behind and dealing with it, than practice. With Tony Rowe’s ham-fisted headmasterly indignation still ringing in their ears, Sandy Park’s schoolboys bundled their way to 12 points and it was most definitely game on. 

“Send Danny Care out again…” seemed to be the call. Clad in day-glo orange boots, England’s hundred cap scrum half smiled and joshed his way across the deal ball area once more. The crowd responded. The fuss almost incongruous with the goings on on the pitch. Nick David seemed to mouthe “This is weird?” but our hero shrugged his shoulders. 

Half time limped in. Both sides wrestling with the idea of continuous phases of play. And as the PA babbled with different voices describing how important a player Danny Care was, the crowd wondered if the main character would make an appearance. 

The half time chat from Quins seemed not to have been heard, for it was the visitors that bolted first in the second half. As a good a passage of play as they’d had manifest itself in Chiefs’ ranks, and Russ Tuima showed a surprising turn of pace until recycled ball sprung them free on the opposite flank: Stu Townsend being found on a final rudimentary inside ball. 

Quins did eventually respond. Oscar Beard benefitting from an impish dab from Marcus Smith to scythe up the field deep into the 22. But Chiefs managed to keep their noses clean. If you want to pinpoint the difference between this season and Quins of old, that is it. Into the red zone without conversion. The tackle on Porter was dubious but how was the Chiefs defender able to make it? There was no guard in place to protect the Quins scrum half, no connecting piece vital and present in years gone by, and the light was temporarily extinguished. 

Cue Marcus Smith. A man whose own season seems to have been relit by Lions inclusion. He jinked his way through delightfully, waltzing underneath the posts to push the home side once more in front and set up the showpiece finish. 

With Exeter awarded a penalty and a chance to retake the lead almost instantaneously, the TV Director felt it best to find our hero on the bench. Surely, Care’s smiling face served as a reminder as to why we were here. It was the nudge the game needed. With Slade’s penalty successful, the maestro strolled into the orchestra pit. 15 minutes to conduct something special one final time in front of his most cherished patrons. 

Not that many were going to watch his stick. Marcus Smith knocked over another penalty and still the game convulsed in unusual ways as both sides couldn’t work out how to load up a knockout blow. Forward the game crept as both sides endeavoured to butcher good chances. Neither of these two teams is too far away from their classic best but both are missing vital blocks in offensive and defensive walls.

But how about luck and Danny Care? If we needed any more proof of how apt a bedfellow these two beings have been, it stood proud on 77 minutes. A incredibly fortunate half charge down from a DC cross field kick (in his own 22) ricocheted into the Quins’ backline’s hands and they unleashed Cadan Murley down the left hand side. The ensuing try didn’t emerge but the subsequent field position played out as enough. And it was, of course, Care himself who booted the ball into the stand to seal the win. 

It wasn’t the fairytale ending in a way, but sport doesn’t always play ball. It was the end of an era and while it didn’t fizz and pop like the champagne quality of Care’s career, it was pretty much in keeping with the Quins team he leaves behind. Post match felicitations took place with the PA belting out the names of other Quins also leaving. All have played their part but none have created the imprint the young lad from Leeds has made on this patch of grass in West London. 

Rugby doesn’t do sympathy and while a few tears were shed, everyone realised how lucky they’ve been to watch Danny take care of business all these years. Marcus Smith called it a privilege on the pitch post match and no one disagreed.