All Blacks legend Dan Carter has revealed that the side's loss to France in the 2007 Rugby World Cup quarter-final was a result of insufficient mental preparation.
Speaking to the Guardian before his move from Europe to Japan next month, Carter says that if he could to do it all again he would focus on his mentality.
"If I could change one thing in my career I would pay more attention to the mental side from the start," Carter told the Guardian.
"The defeat to France was a huge lesson. Under pressure, we withdrew into ourselves and stuck to what the coaches had said.
"We stopped thinking. I learned then that for all the time you spent in the gym and on the training field, not enough was done in terms of mental preparation."
