Lucky rugger

New Zealand fly-half Dan Carter has been hailed by many rugby commentators as the game’s finest player, and indeed last year French club Stade Toulousain reportedly offered him a record breaking contract in a bid to secure his signature. Carter ultimately moved to French side Perpignan, although his season was unfortunately cut short by an Achilles’ injury.

Hot Press was fortunate enough to enjoy an audience with Carter during his recent visit to Dublin to promote the launch of sports equipment website mcsport.ie. First on the agenda was the issue of whether the player has a prospective date in mind for his comeback game.
“They say about six months from the surgery, so for me that’s around August,” says Carter. “Everything is going to schedule at the moment, which is encouraging. Around August sometime would be great, although it is in the middle of the Tri-Nations. But I don’t think I could go back and play with the All Blacks anyway. I’ll return to play some provincial rugby in the New Zealand Cup, and hopefully find some form that will get me into contention for the All Blacks.”
Carter closely followed this season’s Heineken Cup, and was as surprised as anyone by the emphatic nature of Leinster’s win over Munster in the semi-final.
“I wasn’t expecting that sort of score,” he notes. “But I was very impressed with the way Leinster played. Right from the kick-off you could tell that they really wanted to put in a good performance. They played so well and never gave Munster a chance. They were thoroughly deserving winners of that game.”
What did Carter make of Ireland’s Grand Slam triumph in the Six Nations?
“I thought it was a great finale,” he responds. “I felt that Ireland and Wales were the two best sides by a long way. For it to come down right to the last second like it did was just awesome. It was a great spectacle and Ireland were deserving winners. Good on them.”
On the All Blacks’ Irish tour last year (for which Carter was absent through injury), the team played Munster in a memorable tie. The occasion was made even more special by the fact that Munster’s four New Zealand players performed the haka before the game, raising the atmosphere to fever pitch in the process. Carter, who was present for the match, was as impressed as anyone by the exciting nature of the contest.
“It was great, I would have loved to have been part of it,” he reflects. “Just being there was awesome; I was sitting in the stand in amongst all the crazy Munster supporters. It was a lot of fun and a great occasion. Even better was the way the game turned out - it was so close and tense, and it could have gone either way. It was a great spectacle.”
Would playing for Munster appeal to Carter?
“When you talk to the New Zealand guys who play for Munster, they only have positive things to say about it. I’m sure for any player who’s looking to play overseas, as much as any potential success, they have to take into consideration what their colleagues say about a club.”
Carter first made an impact on international rugby courtesy of his stellar performance in the second test against the touring British and Irish Lions in 2005, on which occasion he scored two tries, five penalties and four conversions. Unsurprisingly, it’s a game of which he has fond memories. However, there was also an unsavoury note to the occasion, with Lions captain Brian O’Driscoll having to go off injured after finding himself on the receiving end of a spear-tackle.
“It was one of the things that happened in the heat of the moment,” says Carter. “They’re not malicious players. It was very disappointing for Brian to end the series like that. It was just one of these unfortunate incidents.”
On the international front, Carter already has an eye on the 2011 World Cup. Given that New Zealand are to host the tournament, it perhaps represents the best chance yet for the country to land the prize that, remarkably, has so far eluded them.
“It’s extremely disappointing that we haven’t won it so far,” acknowledges Carter. “I think it’s just the beauty of sport, that any team can beat anyone on their day. Unfortunately, in the past, we haven’t performed when it’s counted. But we’ll come keep working at it and hopefully we’ll change things around.”