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'Absolute magician': Dan Carter reveals the best coach he ever had
All Blacks legend Dan Carter named who he believes is the greatest coach he ever had throughout his illustrious playing career.
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Carter was a key part of many successful teams led by numerous coaching greats throughout his glittering playing days, winning Bledisloe Cups, Tri-Nations and Rugby Championship titles and back-to-back World Cups under Sir Graham Henry and Sir Steve Hansen during his time in the All Blacks.
At club and provincial level, he also won three Super Rugby championships with the Crusaders under Robbie Deans, multiple NPC titles with Canterbury, two Top 14 crowns with Perpignan and Racing 92, as well as a Top League with Kobelco Steelers.
However, when asked about who was the best coach he has had over his career, Carter named former All Blacks coach Wayne Smith while speaking on Newstalk ZB to promote his new book 1598.
Nicknamed ‘The Professor’, Smith was the All Blacks head coach from 2000 to 2001 before resigning after back-to-back losses to the Wallabies.
He returned to the New Zealand coaching staff in 2004 as an assistant under Henry, which coincided with Carter’s promotion to starting first-five in the same year.
From there, Smith oversaw most of Carter’s test career as an assistant with the team from 2004 right through to the 2011 World Cup, and then again for the 2015 World Cup.
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“Absolute magician, absolute genius. I’ve never met anyone who works as hard as he does,” Carter told Newstalk ZB of Smith, who also part of the Kobelco coaching staff during Carter’s time in Japan.
“He challenges you, he gets the best out of you. He’s a good friend. He was a big part of my journey.
“It is really hard to nail one coach because I had so many amazing coaches with Steve Hansen, Graham Henry, Robbie Deans, some absolute legends of world rugby, but the fact that Smithy could drag me to Japan for a couple of extra years at the end of my career goes to show how important he was to me.
“It was an amazing way to play for Smithy in the last couple years in Japan.”
Speaking on the 2011 World Cup campaign, where they exorcised 24 years of heartbreak to claim their second title, Carter opened up on the freak groin injury he sustained at the end of training while kicking shots at goal ahead of a pool game against Canada.
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He described the injury, which sidelined him to the remainder of the tournament, as “one of the hardest things” to deal with over his career and something that “made no sense” at the time.
The 39-year-old had been in great form in the All Blacks pool stage win over France and was looking to play a key part in rectifying the team’s quarter-final exit four years earlier, which included captaining the side against Canada for the first time.
“I am a firm believer in that things happen for a reason, but at that time in 2011, it made no sense at all. It was probably one of the hardest things to deal with in my career, such a serious setback like that,” Carter explained.
“Not just the seriousness of the injury but also the situation, being asked to captain the All Blacks earlier that morning and obviously having a Rugby World Cup in your home country in New Zealand.
“To be ruled out, I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone. It was a really challenging time.
“Fast forward to where I am now, looking back, things do happen for a reason and it actually gave me a lot more determination for the following four years and really gave me huge focus to want to really push hard and finish on my own terms.
“Thankfully I was able to do that four years later.”
Asked on whether that injury changed him as a player, Carter explained that he returned with greater motivation than before, knowing that, at any time, an injury can take the game away.
He returned to international rugby in June 2012 in the New Zealand’s first game as world champions and put in a big performance at Eden Park as the All Blacks defeated Ireland 42-10.
A week later, a 79th minute Carter drop goal broke a 19-all deadlock in Christchurch and sealed a series win over Ireland, who the Kiwis would go on to beat 60-0 in the third test in Hamilton.
The All Blacks then went through the Rugby Championship undefeated before succumbing to a Bledisloe Cup draw against Australia in Brisbane. The only loss of the year came at the hands of England at Twickenham in the last test of the year.
“I came back hugely motivated,” Carter told Newstalk ZB.
“One of the proudest moments of my career was the season I had in 2012. To have such a serious injury, have some pretty dark times, to then being able to string together some performances together I was extremely proud of.”
That year, Carter won World Rugby Player of the Year award for the second time in his career after his first award in 2005, and then won it again for a third time in his final year of test rugby following New Zealand’s 2015 World Cup success.
“Whether I deserved it or not, to be nominated and win World Rugby Player of the Year the following year after such a serious injury was a really proud moment,” Carter said.
“I felt like I was back to playing to a level that I could be proud of. All the hard work was paying off.
“I felt that there was a lot more gratitude, in that things can get taken away from you pretty quickly, understanding that it’s not going to last forever, the fact that I was getting to the end of my career, a bit of criticism about injuries, ageing body, form and things like that.
“But, just having that constant mindset of just wanting to make the most of this final opportunity at the back end of my career to basically give it everything I’ve got, and I felt like I was able to do that and reap the rewards right at the end.”
Comments on RugbyPass
After their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
31 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
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