Danny Care is hoping to put recent controversy behind him © Getty Images

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Scrum-half Danny Care concedes he is on his "last chance" to prove himself as an England player.

Care is tipped to be recalled to the national team by Stuart Lancaster for next month's tour of South Africa when the team is announced on Thursday. The Harlequins man says he owes Lancaster "an awful lot" and reiterated his desire to repay the faith of the England coach if selected.

"I'm on my last chance now and I have a lot to prove to lots of people. I still owe Harlequins an awful lot and I owe Stuart a lot," Care was quoted as saying in the Daily Mail. "To have the opportunity to play for England taken away was a very hard lesson to learn, but I will not be making the mistake again."

Off-field controversy has hampered Care in recent months, with alcohol-related incidents in January and March seeing the 25-year-old removed from the England squad prior to the Six Nations tournament. Care insists he has learned from the experience and has vowed to clean up his act as he eyes another opportunity to feature on the international stage.

"To miss the Six Nations for me was heartbreaking after missing the World Cup," Care told Sky Sports News. "We have probably all got to realise that we are in the spotlight a lot more. The public have more access to us and we have got to be careful. I wasn't careful and I paid the price.

"It was a time in my life when I probably wasn't playing as much attention to my rugby as I should have done. I probably lost sight of what I was as a person. My job is to play rugby. I took a long hard look at myself in the mirror and sat down with a lot of people to discuss areas where I can develop my own personal life and I think I am definitely on the road to getting there."

Meanwhile, former England scrum-half Kyran Bracken has been drafted in by Harlequins to mentor Care at club level, director of rugby Conor O'Shea confirmed.

"Kyran has been doing some work from time to time with Danny and our other scrum-halves and hopefully we will tie up a deal with him on a more regular basis next season," O'Shea told the Guardian. "Kyran has a definitive work ethic when it comes to the basics of scrum-half play. It will take time but it should help him. There's loads going on behind the scenes with DC."