Dan Carter has admitted that he knew his World Cup dream was in tatters as soon as he suffered the groin injury that has put an end to his participation in the tournament.
Disaster struck for the All-Blacks over the weekend as their golden boy suffered a torn adductor longus tendon in his left groin while practicing his kicking ahead of New Zealand’s final pool game against Canada, a game in which he was due to stand-in as captain in the absence of Richie McCaw.
Carter immediately fell to the ground in agony and knew as soon as he did that the game was up.
“I knew it was pretty serious because of the pain and because it was quite unusual. I’ve kicked thousands of balls since I was a young fella and I’ve never had this happen kicking a ball,” he said.
“It felt like it popped, hence going down to the ground in agony.”
The circumstances of the injury must have been all the more frustrating for the out-half as he revealed that instead of kicking his usual 20 balls in practice, he only kicked four on this occasion and it was during his last kick that the injury occurred.
“It’s really frustrating, the pure randomness of the injury and for it come out of the blue,” Carter added.
“My body was really good leading into the week and I haven’t had any groin, adductor or hip problems in the past. So for something like this to happen . . .
“It has been really tough to try and put my finger on why and constantly asking ‘why did this happen?’ and I don’t have the answer unfortunately.”
Carter admitted that there have been some dark moments since suffering the injury at the weekend, but revealed that he has been helped to get over it by his friends, family and teammates and isn’t going to dwell on the situation for too long.
Carter will remain with the squad as a spectator for the rest of the tournament and has promised to lend whatever help he can as the All-Blacks strive to end their World Cup famine, which dates back to the first ever World Cup in 1987.
“Lying in bed on Saturday night was pretty tough, looking back on what was probably one of the most craziest days of my life,” he said.
“To be named All Black captain is something very special and to have that taken away from you through an injury, and later to find out that my dream of being involved in a World Cup is over – so it has been a pretty tough couple of days.”
“I’m lucky to have some great people alongside me. My teammates and management, so many friends and family from all around New Zealand helps me move on.
“It’s a little bit different behind closed doors. I tend to let out my frustration a lot. But being around the team really spurs me on to think positively. Moping around is not going to help them.”
“It’s pretty gut-wrenching and disappointing, what’s happened, but I have to get over that and continue to think positively and help the guys out whatever way I can.”
The rather heavy burden of replacing Carter will now fall to Colin Slade, who hasn’t been particularly convincing when filling in for Carter in the past. All-Black followers have high expectations of their players and when your job is to try and live up to Dan Carter, well, it ain’t so easy.
Assistant boss Steve Hansen has backed Slade to flourish, however, as long as he can rid himself of the pressures that come from replacing one of the best players in the world and playing in one of the most important positions in the biggest rugby team in the world
“Colin Slade needs to understand that he’s Colin Slade, doesn’t have to be Dan Carter, and what the rest of the team needs to do is just do their job a little bit better and take up the slack that might have been left without ‘DC’,” Hansen said.
“Injuries happen all the time. There are disappointments in your career and adversity makes you a better person. I’m sure DC will come through this stronger and an even better man that he is now.”
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