Scrumhalf Danny Care will play no part in England’s Six Nations campaign following his second arrest in three weeks for alcohol-related offences, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) said.
The 25-year-old was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Care was also arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly on December 10 following Harlequins’s defeat by Toulouse in the Heineken Cup. He was released without charge after paying a fixed penalty fee but was fined by his club and warned by caretaker England coach Stuart Lancaster.
«I have met Danny and told him that he will not be considered for selection for the Senior or Saxons Elite Player Squads that are due to be announced on the January 11 for the forthcoming Six Nations campaign,» Lancaster said in a statement.
«This is his second arrest in three weeks for alcohol related offences and it is completely unacceptable. We will monitor his progress from this event through Harlequins and we have every confidence in the club to support him in the right way.
«At such a time that we feel he can be trusted to behave appropriately on and off the field then he will be reconsidered for selection, but this will not be until the conclusion of the Six Nations as a minimum.»
As well as his England exclusion, Care was fined 10,000 pounds by Harlequins and will be required to work on the club’s inner city coaching programme until end of pre-season 2012-13.
Care, who said in the RFU statement that it was «up to me to get my head down, keep playing well and learn from my actions» will plead guilty to drink-driving when he appears in court on January 16.
He missed last year’s World Cup in New Zealand because of a toe injury but would have challenged Ben Youngs for a starting place in the Six Nations.
Care has won 32 caps since making his test debut against New Zealand in 2008.
England, keen to put behind them a troubled World Cup campaign blighted by ill-discipline on and off the pitch, face Scotland at Murrayfield in their Six Nations opener on February 4.
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