Dan Carter is keen to add to points tally
All Blacks out-half Dan Carter will be eager to show that he is the player that can help New Zealand lift the World Cup next year.
The 28-year-old has only returned from an ankle injury and will be expected to play a pivotal role in the Autumn Internationals.
Carter is expected to line out for the All Blacks against England on Saturday, 6 November in their opening game of the tour.
New Zealand will then visit Scotland, Ireland and Wales in consecutive weekend Test matches in November.
Carter will be eager to display the skills and ability that have seen him come to prominence in the past seven years. He is now considered as the world’s best out-half and New Zealand will hope that his creativity and points scoring can lead the All Blacks
to their first World Cup since 1987.
The world class out-half was born in Southbridge near Christchurch and fell in love with the game, during his time at school.
However, it was not until he was 20 that Carter was called up to his provincial side Canterbury. His form with the province earned him a call to the Super 12 with the Crusaders in 2003.
Carter faced tough competition as he came in as the understudy to Andrew Mehrtens the number one out-half in New Zealand at the time.
The gifted Southbridge native was soon moved to midfield as a centre and also played in a number of matches at out-half as the Crusaders attempted to accommodate both players.
Later in the same year Carter received an international call up and made his debut in Hamilton at the age of 21 against Wales.
The out-half was picked for the 2003 World Cup squad and featured in the games against Italy, Tonga and Canada.
However, New Zealand were disappointing and were knocked out against Australia, despite being overwhelming favourites to win the World Cup.
Carter continued to impress after the New Zealand World Cup disappointment and Crusaders reached the final of the Super 12’s in 2003 and 2004, but lost on both occasions.
In 2005, Carter helped the Crusaders clinch a Super 12’s title and became a key member of the squad as Mehrtens left the team the previous season.
Dan Carter demolished the Lions
Carter was also instrumental in the All Blacks 2005 demolition of the touring Lions and the player guided New Zealand to three Test victories in the series.
As a result of this, the out-half was named the IRB World Player of the year and his battle with Jonny Wilkinson in the series caused many pundits of the game to consider him the world’s best out-half.
Carter has cemented that sentiment among rugby analysts since the 2005 tour and the out-half is already destined to go down as one of the greatest rugby players in the game, despite being only 28.
The playmaker won another Super 12 title with Canterbury in 2006 and scored the most points ever scored for a club side in one season.
In 2007, New Zealand were tipped as massive favourites and Carter was at the heart of their Tri-Nations success. However, they were once again knocked out of the competition by France.
Carter moved to French club Perpignan in 2008 and became the highest paid player in rugby. The player suffered an injury and hardly featured for the club.
Carter returned to Canterbury in 2009 and has since become the record holder for points scored in the Super 12’s, now called the Super League.
He is currently second on the all time list of points scorers in World rugby and if he stays fit he is expected to break the record.
Carter will hope to add more points to his personal tally during the Autumn Internationals in November.
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