We break down the All Blacks opening clash against the Springboks, Marc takes a look into the All Blacks cup hopes with tarot card reader Kimberley and the Warriors Womens team gear up for first home match. VIDEO/Mark Mitchell
Dan Carter lorded it over the 2015 Rugby World Cup, through the majesty of his play, the sharpness of his vision, his poise, his ability not just to draw the best from himself but also from those around him.
But if you want truly to understand what lay at the heart of those performances throughout the tournament, then a snapshot of his anguished and disbelieving face as he limped from the field on the eve of a pool match against Canada in New Zealand in 2011 is where you should turn.
That was Carter the vulnerable, the man in the midst of his - and his country's - worst nightmare, as he was ruled out of the 2011 World Cup after tearing an adductor in his groin while taking a couple of routine kicks at the end of the pre-match captain's run. Carter's dream scenario of helping New Zealand win a World Cup on home turf lay in tatters. So, too, did his plans for the future.
"I was pretty close to signing a contract to go to Bath after 2011 and there was a lot of interest from clubs in France," Carter told Telegraph Sport. "The injury changed everything. I actually thought that 2011 would be my last World Cup. I was 28 and figured that I'd no longer be at my best in my early thirties.
"I felt I was in my prime back then and that everything was set up to help the All Blacks win their first title since 1987. That all came unstuck. I refocused my goals, changed my plans, stayed in New Zealand and set my sights towards 2015.
"So, yes, 2011 was very much on my mind as we headed towards England. I absolutely knew that this would be my last World Cup. And I was also acutely aware of what could go wrong. If we didn't win it or I got injured, that was it. All over. "
New Zealand All Blacks 1st-five Daniel Carter kicks a conversion during the Quarter Final between France and the All Blacks, held at Millennium Stadium, at Rugby World Cup 2015. Photo / Brett Phibbs.
The Carter that thrived on that stage in 2015, so assured, seemingly so in sync with his inner being, was something of a contrivance. Behind the mask of the superstar sportsman lies a human being prey to all the insecurities of normal life. Carter was no different. Much as he was intent on working towards 2015 in good health and sprightly form, the fates intervened.
Injury struck and so, too, did a significant dip in form. Newspaper columns were filled with comment that Carter was over-the-hill and should be dropped. It took an out-of-the-blue visit from long-standing mentor and former All Black coach, Wayne Smith, to lift Carter out of the doldrums.
"I had had an indifferent time of it, your mind goes into overdrive, and you start believing what is being said, that my body was giving up on me and that sows doubt in you that you will ever get back to the levels you used to perform at," recalls Carter. "I'd even looked at retiring and was feeling sorry for myself.
"Smithy's visit was just the pep talk I needed. He'd put together a video reel of all my best bits, times when I was running freely, without fear, enjoying myself. That was the me I had to get back to and if Smithy, the best coach I ever worked with, could take time out and fly down to see me, I owed it to him to be that Dan Carter again."
He was, as were the All Blacks. Many teams try to push scrutiny and expectations to one side and trot out the one-game-at-a-time mantra - but not this team.
"We had learned so much from 2007 [when they were surprisingly beaten by France in the quarter-finals] when we had tried to ignore the pressure of the moment, pretending it didn't really exist," said Carter. "That all came into play in 2011 when we did confront the situation and finally got the monkey off our back by winning a World Cup.
"We approached 2015 in a different way. It was not just about winning. It was to be about creating history. No All Black team had won a World Cup outside New Zealand. And no country had won back-to-back titles. That was to be our focus."
Premier of the movie Perfect 10, a documentary about All Black Dan Carter, in Auckland 26 August 2019. Photo / supplied.
The 2015 World Cup was supposed to be a straightforward affair with the world's best making their way through to the final to deliver on what Carter and his All Black teammates wanted. Then came the opening weekend and Japan's stunning win over South Africa, a game the Kiwi squad watched at their team base ahead of their first game against Argentina at Wembley.
Sure enough, the encounter with the Pumas was brutal and gruelling: the All Blacks trailed at half-time and were, at one stage, reduced to 13 men following yellow cards for Richie McCaw and Conrad Smith. A capacity 90,000-strong crowd sensed another seismic shock.
"We should have known what was coming," said Carter. "Argentina are always dangerous at World Cups. It was a wake-up call. It also reinforced the truth I knew so well from 2011, that World Cups are full of dramas, injuries, upsets, everything. We had to be ready for all that."
They were. New Zealand dodged the Argentine bullet - winning 26-16 thanks to tries from Aaron Smith and Sam Cane - and duly completed routine pool stage wins over Namibia, Georgia and Tonga. The only question was whether they might be undercooked, and whether their quarter-final opponents - France, in Cardiff - could put the hex on them once again.
"I never thought that it would come to that again," said Carter with a rueful chuckle. "2007 was not a good memory. It was really, really eerie in the changing-room after that game. We'd gone into it with such confidence - we'd beaten France twice by 40 or 50 points in the preceding 12 months - but we were like a possum in the headlights. We were looking round for answers and no-one had any. We were outplayed. It was such a shock.
"Many of us felt we would go to France and win a World Cup. Now we didn't even know if they would let us back into New Zealand. My family were in the air flying over from New Zealand, like thousands of other Kiwis, looking forward to the final stages while we were packing our bags."
Dan Carter and Ma'a Nonu after winning the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Photo / Getty Images.
"So that was in my mind in 2015, and a few of us did speak about it in the leadership group. But then players such as Brodie Retallick said that he had never even watched that game. So, it wasn't about revenge, it was about performance. We could never re-write the history of that day in 2007. But we could walk towards the challenge and make a statement."
New Zealand did just that, winning 62-13, the biggest winning margin in knockout history, to book a meeting with the Sprinboks in the semi-finals - always a game that holds special allure for All Blacks.
"It's the fixture that goes back generations," said Carter. "We all grew up hearing tales of the Springboks. We knew it would be tough and it was. We actually felt in control for much of that match but just couldn't get clear on the scoreboard. Typical South Africa. Couldn't shake them off. But we got there (20-18) and there was just this massive sense of relief."
That victory featured a drop goal - a rarity for a New Zealand side. It was a blind spot that had cost them dear in that 2007 quarter-final loss to France, and prompted the squad to revisit their approach.
"We had never really practised it," said Carter, "but we did after 2007, that's for sure. It became part of our weekly drill, working the field in case we needed a drop goal. It became a key element."
The hard work paid off again in the final against Australia. New Zealand had begun well again and were 16-3 ahead at half-time, Carter hitting three penalties and converting Milner-Skudder's try. A wonderful try from Ma'a Nonu looked to have sealed the game as early as the 53rd minute as New Zealand led 21-3. But, once again, the game tilted on its axis after Ben Smith was sin-binned for a tip tackle on Drew Mitchell. Two Wallaby tries in quick succession from David Pocock and Tevita Kuridrani saw the advantage pegged back to 21-17.
The game, and tournament, was in the balance. Step forward Carter, whose towering 40-metre drop goal finally eased All Black nerves.
"I'd been doing them since I was five, knocking the ball between the posts back home in the garden in Southbridge, trusting your instincts, knowing that you'd put the work in down all those years," said Carter, who showed unusual emotion as he ran back to the half-way line.
"I'm not usually like that. But that was my last game in an All Black jersey. It was everything to me. I could see the body language in our boys change."
New Zealand never looked back, ultimately winning 34-17. Once the raucous din of celebration had died, Carter allowed himself a quiet moment back at the side's base at Pennyhill Park. "I sat in my room for a couple of hours, looking at my medal, letting it all sink in, tying to appreciate how lucky I was to be able to go out on my terms. I was just so grateful for that. It was a fairytale finish."
