Dan Carter weighs in on All Blacks No.10 battle as questions linger

At Super Rugby Pacific Super Round in Christchurch, three of the four most popular options were on show at the new One New Zealand Stadium, including Damian McKenzie, Beauden Barrett, and Ruben Love.

Carter, widely considered one of the best rugby players of all time, said Rennie and his coaching staff have all the depth they possibly need.

“I think we’re really lucky, we’ve got some great depth. I guess the challenge is, who’s going to put their hand up and really take that role over the next, next couple of years, that’s something that probably hasn’t happened,” Carter told Martin Devlin on the DSPN Podcast.

“It’s kind of been shared a little bit once Richie Mo’unga departed, he took a bit of ownership in the back end of his time in New Zealand and then it’s been between sort of Damian and Beauden.”

The former All Black first-five believes it’s not a negative to not know who may be in the jersey at the Rugby World Cup in Australia just yet, as there are a number of Tests before next year’s competition.

“Now we’ve got a bit of young talent coming through. It’s exciting, so we have depth there which is good. It’s just which one of those three, four players that you mentioned is going to really put their hand up and go, this is my position.

“Obviously you got Richie [Mo’unga] coming back as well on the mix, so that strengthens the depth. So it’s a real positive, but I don’t think we can answer that question of who’s going to be playing at the World Cup just yet, because there’s still a lot of Test matches and a lot of footy to be played before then.

“I think it’s amazing opportunity for one of them to go right, that number 10 jersey’s mine.”

Ruben Love’s future with the All Blacks at No.10 has been widely discussed, which Carter compares to a situation when he started, where there’s no perfect time to blood in new talent.

“I was lucky, I had a season and a half playing in the 12 jersey and been in the environment playing alongside the great Carlos Spencer and Andrew Mertens, so I was just sitting there learning from two absolute masters of the 10 jersey, two very different players as well,” Carter told the DSPN in Christchurch.

“So the end of year tour in my second year, we went over to to Europe and they left those two players behind, they threw me into the mix in a very young squad and I just had to learn as we went, and probably one of the biggest things for me, was actually just being thrown in the deep end and either you sink or you swim, to be honest.

“And I’m not saying that that’s what they need to do, but when they show the capabilities of what they’re capable of doing, and they’ve been in the environment, whether in and out or certain times, is time, that you’ve got to just really show belief and faith in that person and and just continue to back them, and hopefully you make the right decision.”