All Blacks’ Dan Carter asks goal kickers to master new rugby ball to overcome kicking difficulties
The All Blacks’ star international fly half, Dan Carter, has urged his fellow goal kickers to master the Gilbert-brand ball, which is currently being used in the ongoing 2011 Rugby World Cup (RWC) tournament. He termed kickers complaints regarding the ball
and the prevailing conditions in the country as “no excuse” for a bad performance.
Carter currently holds the honour of world’s highest point scorer with 215 penalties and 224 conversions under his belt. He termed it frustrating to switch balls and making the necessary adjustments on the eve of the global tournament, as most players are
used to playing with a particular kind of ball.
Carter admitted that it is difficult to adapt to the Gilbert-brand ball. However, he believed that mastering it was not impossible. He added that goal kickers are given enough time a day each game to fine tune their goal kicking with the stadium requirements. He
ruled out the home territory benefit and confirmed he spent two weeks with the new ball to adapt to it.
Carter admitted that stadium conditions vary across New Zealand, as in some stadiums it is quiet windy while at the other’s there moderate or low wind. He acknowledged the fact that most of the players are used playing in big stadiums, where there is hardly
any wind in the stadium. However, he denounced the conditions as the only reason for the bad goal kicking.
Carter also mentioned that practice and spending time on field perfecting kicking with the new ball as the most workable solution for goal kickers to overcome kicking problems. He said, “It's the same for every kicker and it's just a matter of continuing
to work hard on the practice pitch to make sure you're fine-tuning your routine and your rhythm, to make sure it's well intact because if you strike it well then it goes straight.”
The dilemma goal kickers faced due to the new ball and conditions has drawn more attention as the world’s leading penalty goal scorer, Jonny Wilkinson, missed some crucial penalties in England’s 2011 RWC opener against Argentina.
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