Off-field impact vital, says Thorne
Former All Blacks captain Reuben Thorne believes Dan Carter’s impact off the field will far outweigh what he does on the park with the Blues.
At 38, Carter is at the tail end of his illustrious career and might only see limited game time during the competition. He had played only six games in the past 18 months and will need to slowly work his way back with fitness and contact work.
Having spent 13 years at the Crusaders from 2003-15, where he won three Super Rugby titles, seeing Carter in a Blues jersey will be a strange sight for red-and-black supporters.
Thorne, a long-time team-mate of Carter at the Crusaders, said his addition would be invaluable for the younger member of the Blues squad.
Even if Carter barely took the field, rubbing shoulders with him every day at training and witnessing his professionalism, would be huge for the Blues players.
‘‘That’s obviously the main value they see in getting him involved,’’ Thorne said.
‘‘[Coach] Leon [MacDonald] has seen that as an opportunity to bring a guy in with his experience and his professional standards and everything else. Ironically that’s probably more of an important role than what he does on the field.’’
Thorne, co-coach of the Canterbury Mitre 10 Cup provincial side, had no qualms with Carter joining their archrival Blues. Being close to his family was the most important factor and the Blues had a need with first-five Stephen Perofeta fracturing a bone in his foot.
He had no doubt Carter could still be threat and would succeed against the young pups in the competition, if he ended up playing.
‘‘He’s a class player. We know that. From what I heard he was playing well in
Japan. I can’t see any reason why he wouldn’t play well here. He’ll do fine.’’
Crusaders chief executive Colin Mansbridge described Carter’s return as a winwin for Super Rugby Aotearoa and New
Zealand Rugby. Carter contacted Crusaders coach Scott Robertson before his signing was confirmed to tell him he was joining the Blues.
Should New Zealand move to level 1 next week, crowds could be allowed at Super Rugby Aotearoa games. The Crusaders host the Blues at Christchurch’s Orangetheory Stadium on July 11 and Mansbridge said Carter’s addition would be a boost for gate takings.
‘‘We know through looking at the review of the Super Rugby competition, the best thing you can do for that is get high quality players involved and the more All Blacks that play the more excitement there is in the games.
‘‘We know if you get a player of his calibre involved it will be good for crowds.’’
Mansbridge expected Crusaders diehards would understand Carter’s situation and be fully behind him, if he did take the field against them. It was not as if he had switched to the Blues, while playing for the Crusaders in the previous season.
Carter has spent the past five years overseas after helping guide the All Blacks to the 2015 Rugby World Cup title, where he turned in a man-of-the-match role in the final against Australia – his last game for New Zealand.
‘‘It will look different if he’s in a Blues jersey. I guess the first thing is will he get there [on the field], is the first step and second step, it will be a bit different,’’ Mansbridge said.
‘‘That’s the nature of the game. He’s come back, and he’s looking to give back to the game. He’s obviously got a really good relationship with Rangi [MacDonald] and he thinks he can help with the development of the game.’’
Mansbridge confirmed the Crusaders did not contact to Carter to assess his playing availability.