Why DC can give game major lift

“Oh, let’s rip into it, I suppose.”

And with that, Dan Carter, standing in his new Blues training jersey, shorts and socks — his wet orange and black boots quickly discarded — set about explaining how he came to be training with his new Super Rugby team (and the traditional arch rivals of his beloved Crusaders) at the age of 38, five years after his last outing in the competition.

A heavy rain shower meant he delivered his address to the halfdozen television cameras and more than 20 reporters attempting to selfdistance in the Alexandra Park trotting track stand overlooking the Blues’ training pitch.

Directly in Carter’s line of vision was the race track’s finishing post; an appropriate symbol for a couple of reasons. One is that the franchise have finally succeeded in signing a player they have coveted for years. Another is that the former All Blacks first-five, who is way out on his own as the highest scorer in test rugby, is in no mood to finish anything other than a three-month training and playing hiatus brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

“I guess you guys are just surprised about me being here at the Blues training — with the current situation with all sports around the world either being postponed or cancelled, it’s a bit of a crazy time,” Carter said.

He’s not wrong. And given coach Leon MacDonald’s ability to convince Carter and Beauden Barrett to join the Blues and train and play alongside such talents as All Blacks Rieko Ioane and Patrick Tuipulotu, there is a sense that virtually no player and no result is out of reach now, a feeling which rightly or wrongly will infuse longsuffering Blues supporters with a sense of anticipation they haven’t felt since 2011, when their team last made the playoffs.

Aucklanders know all about the sort of downpour that sent MacDonald’s players running for shelter after training. And they know about public transport issues, too, aptly enough, because the Blues have spent 15 years waiting for a worldclass first-five since the departure of Carlos Spencer and now two have come along at once.

Yes, Carter has been signed solely as injury cover for the new Super Rugby Aotearoa competition — which starts for the Blues in eight days with a highly-anticipated match against the Hurricanes at Eden Park. And no, he won’t play in that game or probably the one after it due to his lack of match fitness after arriving home from his stint with the Kobe club in Japan.

But as Carter suggested, these are weird times, and potentially wonderful ones, too. Most rugby followers would have thought that observing Barrett’s first game for the Blues after 125 games at the Hurricanes was intriguing enough.

Now every week, fans around the world will be waiting for news on the Blues’ latest line-up to see whether one of the game’s best No 10s, who played 112 tests for the All Blacks and 140 games for the Crusaders, will put on a blue jersey the following weekend.

Carter has been brought in by MacDonald for his knowledge and experience as much as anything, and on the pitch, he spoke at length to his former Crusaders teammate, and Barrett, a player Carter said could also teach him a few things.

Carter kicked, passed and ran a little as the rain came down. He has always jogged about the training pitch like a man who has run a marathon the day before — as though he needs to chauffeur his frame about in the most sympathetic way possible — and that hasn’t changed since he last played for the Crusaders in a victory over the Brumbies in 2015 or the All Blacks on that incredible autumn afternoon at Twickenham in the World Cup final a few months later.

The important thing is he’s back, and while it’s probably for a limited time only, the Blues and a national game in need of a lift will be better off.