| Full name | Daniel William Carter | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 5 March 1982 | ||
| Place of birth | Southbridge, Canterbury, New Zealand | ||
| Height | 178 cm (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Weight | 94 kg (14 st 11 lb) | ||
| School | Ellesmere College Christchurch Boys' High |
||
| Rugby union career | |||
| Playing career | |||
| Position | Fly-Half, Inside centre | ||
| Provincial/State sides | |||
| Years | Club / team | Caps | (points) |
| 1999–present | Canterbury | 34 | (45) |
| correct as of 28 September 2009. | |||
| Super Rugby | |||
| Years | Club / team | Caps | (points) |
| 2001–present | Crusaders | 95 | (1,272)28t |
| correct as of 9 July 2011. | |||
| National team(s) | |||
| Years | Club / team | Caps | (points) |
| 2003–present | New Zealand | 85 | (1,250)29t |
| correct as of 25 September 2011. | |||
Daniel William "Dan" Carter (born 5 March 1982) is a New Zealand rugby union player.
He is currently the highest points scorer in test match rugby[1] and is regarded as one of rugby's greatest ever fly-halves.[2]
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Carter was born on 5 March 1982 in Southbridge, a small town in the South Island of New Zealand, to Neville and Bev Carter,[3] and has one older sister, Sarah. From the age of 5, he played with Southbridge Rugby Club as a scrum half. He attended Ellesmere College and Christchurch Boys High School, and has said he was a shy and quiet young man who kept grand aspirations to himself.[4] His great uncle was Canterbury and New Zealand half back Bill Dalley, a member of the 1924–25 Invincibles and later a Canterbury rugby administrator.
Carter made his provincial debut for Canterbury in 2002, and in 2003 was selected to play in the Super 12 (now Super Rugby) franchise the Crusaders. Initially playing mainly at second five-eighth Carter reached the final of the competition with the Crusaders in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. Although they lost the 2003 and 2004 finals, in 2005 Carter had moved to first five-eighth. He regularly played with Andrew Mehrtens before Mehrtens left the team following their 2004 season. In 2005 and 2006 the Crusaders won the competition, and in the 2006 season Carter scored the most individual points for a player in one season with 221. In April 2008, Carter was linked with a possible move to the Welsh Magners League region the Cardiff Blues along with Guinness Premiership returnees Northampton Saints until being linked to play next season with French teams RC Toulonnais as well as Stade Toulousain who in April 2008 offered Carter "the biggest rugby contract in world rugby", at £750,000 per year.[5] In June 2008, Carter made the decision to sign a six-month contract with French club side Perpignan, who then paid Carter the equivalent of £30,000 per game, during his sabbatical season.[6] On 31 January 2009 Carter ruptured his achilles tendon playing for Perpignan against Stade Francais but they still managed to win the Top 14. He ended up recovering earlier than expected and played for his province, Canterbury, in the opening game of the 2009 Air New Zealand Cup. He then won selection to play for the All Blacks against Australia on 22 August 2009 after only recovering for a few months. He is now the top scorer in Super 12/14 rugby history.[7]
In June 2003, Carter made his All Blacks debut at age 21 in Hamilton, New Zealand, scoring 20 points against Wales. He was then capped against France in Christchurch, which the All Blacks won 31–23. He was also a substitute in a match against Australia (the Wallabies) in Sydney, which the All Blacks won 50–21. Carter was then included in New Zealand's 2003 Rugby World Cup squad, where he first gained serious international attention. Carter spent much of the latter stages of the tournament on the bench leaving New Zealand without a specialist goal-kicker. However, he did play in the games against Italy in Melbourne, which the All Blacks won 70–7, and the wins over Canada and Tonga. Although he has been an All Black since 2003 he only secured a permanent position as the first five-eighth in the team during the 2004 tour to the United Kingdom and France displacing Carlos Spencer. He had been playing as a second five-eighths up until the end of the 2004 Tri-Nations. After Carter's performance in the second All Blacks Test against the British and Irish Lions in 2005, he was hailed as the next big thing in world rugby. He scored two tries, five penalties, and four conversions. He ended the match with 33 points, passing the previous All Blacks record of 18 points in a Lions Test (Carter's second-half total of 22 points by itself was sufficient to top this).
On 27 November 2010, after scoring a halfway penalty against Wales, Carter became the highest point scorer of all time,[8][9] overtaking England's Jonny Wilkinson's previous record of 1,178 although Wilkinson took the record back on 26 February 2011 against France. Carter reclaimed the record on 30 July 2011 when he advanced to 1,204 points in the first tri-nations match of the 2011 series against South Africa.[1] He has currently scored a total of 1,250 test points (29 tries, 224 conversions, 215 penalties, and 4 drop goals) in 85 tests, with an average of 15.0 points a game (the highest average for players who have scored more than 500 Test points). Along with Richie McCaw Carter earns 750,000 NZD a year being the joint highest paid player in New Zealand. This high paying contract by the New Zealand Rugby Union is not subject to form or fitness as both players are regarded integral to the All Blacks 2011 Rugby World Cup plans. After being vice captain for more than 50 tests under Richie McCaw, it was announced on 1 October that Carter would captain the All Blacks for the first time against Canada. However, it was later announced that Carter would miss the rest of the 2011 Rugby World Cup after tearing a groin tendon during the final training session before the match against Canada.[10] Carter has signed a contract to re-sign with the NZRU until 2015.[11]
| Try | Opposing team | Location | Venue | Competition | Date | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wales | Hamilton, New Zealand | Waikato Stadium | Test Match | 21 June 2003 | Won |
| 2 | Australia | Sydney, Australia | Stadium Australia | Tri Nations | 26 July 2003 | Won |
| 3 | Italy | Melbourne, Australia | Docklands Stadium | Rugby World Cup | 11 October 2003 | Won |
| 4 | Tonga | Brisbane, Australia | Lang Park | Rugby World Cup | 24 October 2003 | Won |
| 5 | England | Auckland, New Zealand | Eden Park | Test Match | 19 June 2004 | Won |
| 6 | Italy | Rome, Italy | Stadio Flaminio | Test Match | 13 November 2004 | Won |
| 7 | France | Paris, France | Stade de France | Test Match | 27 November 2004 | Won |
| 8 | Fiji | North Shore City, New Zealand | North Harbour Stadium | Test Match | 10 June 2005 | Won |
| 9 | British and Irish Lions | Wellington, New Zealand | Westpac Stadium | Test Match | 2 July 2005 | Won |
| 10 | British and Irish Lions | Wellington, New Zealand | Westpac Stadium | Test Match | 2 July 2005 | Won |
| 11 | Wales | Cardiff, Wales | Millennium Stadium | Test Match | 5 November 2005 | Won |
| 12 | Wales | Cardiff, Wales | Millennium Stadium | Test Match | 5 November 2005 | Won |
| 13 | Argentina | Buenos Aires, Argentina | Ferrocaril Oeste | Test Match | 24 June 2006 | Won |
| 14 | South Africa | Rustenburg, South Africa | Olympia Park | Tri Nations | 2 September 2006 | Lost |
| 15 | England | London, England | Twickenham | Test Match | 5 November 2006 | Won |
| 16 | France | Lyon, France | Stade de Gerland | Test Match | 11 November 2006 | Won |
| 17 | Canada | Hamilton, New Zealand | Waikato Stadium | Test Match | 16 June 2007 | Won |
| 18 | Canada | Hamilton, New Zealand | Waikato Stadium | Test Match | 16 June 2007 | Won |
| 19 | Canada | Hamilton, New Zealand | Waikato Stadium | Test Match | 16 June 2007 | Won |
| 20 | South Africa | Christchurch, New Zealand | Lancaster Park | Tri Nations | 14 July 2007 | Won |
| 21 | Scotland | Edinburgh, Scotland | Murrayfield | Test Match | 23 September 2007 | Won |
| 22 | England | Auckland, New Zealand | Eden Park | Test Match | 14 June 2008 | Won |
| 23 | England | Christchurch, New Zealand | Lancaster Park | Test Match | 21 June 2008 | Won |
| 24 | South Africa | Cape Town, South Africa | Newlands Stadium | Tri Nations | 16 August 2008 | Won |
| 25 | Australia | Brisbane, Australia | Lang Park | Tri Nations | 13 September 2008 | Won |
| 26 | Wales | Dunedin, New Zealand | Carisbrook | Test Match | 19 June 2010 | Won |
| 27 | Wales | Dunedin, New Zealand | Carisbrook | Test Match | 19 June 2010 | Won |
| 28 | Australia | Melbourne, Australia | Docklands Stadium | Tri Nations | 31 July 2010 | Won |
| 29 | Scotland | Edinburgh, Scotland | Murrayfield | Test Match | 13 November 2010 | Won |
Source:[12]
Carter models for Jockey underwear on billboards worldwide.[13] His girlfriend, Honor Dillon joined him in one campaign in 2009.[14]
In 2004 and 2005, Carter was voted sexiest New Zealand male in a survey, receiving 35.7% of the vote in 2005.[15]
In November 2006, he released a book entitled Dan Carter: Skills & Performance. It included stories about his relatively brief international rugby career as well as section on skills for younger players.
In 2008 American Cable Channel E! Entertainment judged Carter to be 11th on their list of Sexiest Men in The World.[16] In 2010, E! voted Carter the 3rd sexiest male athlete in the World.
Carter was the first person in the world to purchase a PC shipped with Windows Vista.[17] In addition to Jockey, Carter also is a spokesmodel for Daikin heat pumps [18] and from mid 2011, Philips electric shavers [19] and with the All Blacks, Rexona deoderant [20]
In October 2010, he got engaged to his longtime girlfriend and former Black Sticks striker Honor Dillon, now a brand manager.[21] They were married on 9 December 2011.[22] Among the guests were some of the All Blacks squad and staff including captain Richie McCaw and former All Blacks coach Graham Henry.[23]
Carter also has the highest points average per test (15.1 points per test).
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Schalk Burger |
IRB International Player of the Year 2005 |
Succeeded by Richie McCaw |
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