Super-sub Carter relishes new role
Dan Carter says he is relishing rather than regretting his new super-sub role as he hunts down another major rugby title.
The 36-year-old All Blacks great is set to come off the bench again for Racing 92 in their European Champions Cup semifinal against Munster in Bordeaux on Monday (NZT).
Carter, in his third and final year with Racing 92, has had to play in the shadow of new recruit Pat Lambie as the veteran Kiwi battled back from injury and the Paris club charted a new course in the playmaker’s role.
He came off the bench in Racing’s Cup quarterfinal win over Clermont and says he has revelled in his new role.
‘‘I could be sitting here being annoyed about being on the bench, but it’s not like that for me,’’ Carter told the BBC.
‘‘It’s a new challenge actually. The game has changed so much that the replacements are sometimes just as important.
‘‘My job is made a lot easier when the boys have battered them for 60 minutes. It’s about finding the best way to help the team, and making the most of every opportunity I do have now.’’
Carter has never won Europe’s biggest trophy, having lost the final in his first season with Racing. That’s a huge motivation for him, as is Racing’s presence near the top of the French club championship which gives him another chance of a title before heading to Japan.
But his pure love of the game is what’s driving him and he has accepted the limitations that come with age and injury.
‘‘I’ve got my last couple of months here, and I’m not going to slacken off. I’m going to work harder than I have ever worked,’’ Carter promised.
‘‘The feeling I get playing rugby is like nothing else – it’s a dream come true since I was a child – and I just want this feeling to last as long as possible.
‘‘Obviously it doesn’t last forever, but as long as you have that drive to play at the highest level, that feeling of getting out of bed and saying ‘I am so lucky to call this my job’, that feeling of being excited about going to work and striving to get better every day.
‘‘As long as you have that feeling within, I wanted to keep playing. I still had that feeling in 2015, and I still have those feelings now.’’
Carter, with two World Cups and endless silverware to his name, is a proven winner and his killer instincts will be a real asset to Racing in their quest to make the final.
‘‘I’m 36 and I may not be playing the best rugby of my career, but I still feel like I have got a lot to add, and the individual is nothing without the team.’’
Irish club Leinster and Welsh outfit Scarlets clash in the other Champions Cup semifinal tomorrow with Kiwis scattered across all four teams.