McAlister quip prompts Carter's long kick

Daniel Carter

PRETORIA - Encouragement from Luke McAlister helped Daniel Carter nail his 60m monster penalty kick yesterday at Loftus Versfeld.

The All Black five-eighths was thinking touch or even a tap penalty as the halftime hooter had gone, before McAlister nudged his pride.

"I wasn't planning on kicking it and then Lukey gave me a boost of confidence with, 'Come on DC you are all over it mate' and I had nothing to lose, the halftime buzzer had gone so I thought let rip and fortunately enough it went over," Carter said.

It was a case of keeping his rhythm and on the high veld the ball would fly an extra five or 10 metres.

If France scored a try from the end of the earth against the All Blacks in 1994, then Carter's penalty was a kick from another planet.

His strike sailed over the deadball line and took Springbok hopes of an upset with it.

"I am always confident lining them up, it is just a matter of not dumping it and it only going 20m. It was good to get a good strike on it. Nothing changes, you do the same routines."

Kicking coach Mick Byrne lauded Carter's mint strike which exceeded his previous best of about 58m at the same venue.

It was a decent reward for Byrne in a week when he suffered a bad fall in his room as he went looking for the bathroom in the dark.

Byrne was knocked out and needed stitching for a cut over his eye and treatment for a broken nose and other facial injuries.

"That kick was stunning. It was a huge kick and I think it got to the deadball line," he said.

"You could see the slow speed of the ball so he struck it really well, it spun slowly and if you get under them a bit they spin quicker."

Earlier Carter had wondered whether he was going to have a shocker after a few personal mistakes as the All Blacks started slowly and the Springboks took the game to them.

"We had to make a big emphasis on starting well in the second half and they had nothing to lose and they had a crack but then they got a bit tired."

Attacking licence for the All Black back three then kicked in as they outgunned the tiring defence. Carter will be ready to play next Saturday. He will be sore for a few days but had not sustained any serious damage.