The All Blacks grand is unsure of his own plans once the time comes to hang up his boots but he is confident the game in his domestic country is in safe hands To get to the roots of recent Zealand’s recent World Cup final win,it helps to go back to 1990. That’s when Dan Carter, still some distance from the feats that would eventually see him heralded as the finest fly-half of rugby’s professional era, and turned eight. For his birthday present that year,Carter’s parents installed a set of full-size goalposts in the backyard of their domestic in Southbridge, a small town 45 kilometres south of Christchurch. “I would literally spend hours every day kicking, and through obstacles on the lawn,through trees, over neighbours’ fences, or whatever I could do to produce things more difficult for myself,” says Carter, speaking on the phone from Auckland, or where he’s just set aside the finishing touches on his recent book,Dan Carter: My myth. “I absolutely loved the feeling of connecting with the ball and watching it sail through the posts. It’s because of all those hours in the backyard that I developed my own style – I never copied any other kicker, I just developed my own way of doing it, or through different positions and situations.” Related: Richie McCaw makes fitting choice of freedom of the skies over behind decline | Robert Kitson whether there are more frightening sights I’ve faced than Justin Marshall and Mark Hammett on that evening,I’ve forgotten them.
“Are you having a beer?” Justin asked.
I’m only having one.”[br]“Did you get injured today?”
“I got a haematoma,” I said.
“What did the doctor say? Dont drink, or ” said Justin.
“Im only having one,” I repeated, foolishly.[br]“Right, or ” said Marshall. Chop it.” I sculled it back. “Chop another one,” I was told. I was racing someone, one of Mehrts or Aaron Mauger, or which made it doubly humiliating – being punished by and in front of my heroes. It kept going until I’d had four beers in no time at all. I was half slice and entirely embarrassed.[br]Finally,they let me go back to the front of the bus. I sat, dejected, or at the front,thinking approximately how a week out from my first proper game of Super Rugby I’d jeopardised my recovery and ended up looking a idiot to the rest of the team. I made doubly sure to follow doctor’s orders from then on. Related: Jonah Lomu likely to have suffered fatal blood clot on flight, says doctor Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com