This is how it ends, then, for the finest fly-half in the game. Man of the match in the World Cup final, an All Black victory over Australia, his own contribution of 19 points two more than the margin between the teams. However else?
Well, at the start of the year a lot of good judges in New Zealand weren’t sure whether Carter would be in New Zealand’s squad for this tournament, or should be in their starting XV. In February, he limped off the field during a match between the Crusaders and the Highlanders, the latest in a long and sorry series of injuries. Some said Aaron Cruden should play instead, that Beauden Barrett should be his back-up. Even when Carter came back from that he was stuck at inside-centre and his form there was far from convincing. Whisper it, some even said he was too old and that this one last World Cup was beyond him.
After all this time they should have known better. This final has been fixed in Carter’s mind for four years now, ever since he tore a muscle in his groin while taking a practise kick before the All Blacks’ group match against Canada in the 2011 World Cup. The thought of it brought him back to the game after his six-month sabbatical, sustained him while he was recuperating from all the shoulder problems, achilles and groin tears, ankle sprains, and broken bones which he’s suffered in the years since. This match, these 80 minutes, were what he had been waiting for and working towards.
Now they had finally come around there was no chance Carter was going to come off, even after the two brutal blows he took in the space of five minutes in the first half, both from Sekope Kepu. The first in the 20th minute, just after Carter threw a pass along the line. Kepu charged in, late, and hammered him down to the ground. Kepu is 6ft 2in and almost 20st. The blow left Carter flat on his back, clutching his ribs. Richie McCaw came by, bent down, asked if he was OK. Carter, gasping for air, nodded and so McCaw strolled on. His mate’s word was all the reassurance he needed.
The referee, Nigel Owens, reckoned, after watching the footage on the big screens, that there was “a split-second” where Kepu could have pulled out of the tackle, but that he decided not to. A penalty then, Owens decided, but not a card. He had to make a similar decision soon after. Carter carried the ball towards the gain-line. This time he anticipated the tackle, and stuck out his hand to try and fend Kepu off. Carter has a good hand-off. A little later on hHe used it to send Stephen Moore flying. But Kepu kept coming. He swung around Carter, stretched out his arm, and dragged him down by his neck. If Kepu had been given the benefit of the doubt first time around, this time he was plain lucky to stay on. Another penalty, this one close enough to kick for goal.
Liam Messam ran out with a bottle of water. “Mate,” he said to Carter, “I think they’ve got it in for you today.” Carter laughed. Then he slotted the kick, a tricky one, at an awkward angle from out on the left. It was his second and put New Zealand 6-3 up. There was a third four minutes from half-time, followed by his conversion of Nehe Milner-Skudder’s fine try. In the first half, while New Zealand played with furious intensity, Carter was a calm presence, the rock around which their waves of runners broke, some splitting inside, others out to his right. He sent pop passes one way and fast, long, flat ones the other.
It was in the second half, though, that Carter’s excellence really showed, both as and after Australia fought their way back into the match. When Ben Smith was sent to the sin-bin Carter ensured that the team switched gear, and stripped their play right back to its simplest, recycling the ball through a series of short passes to the first man out after each tackle. When, after that, Australia closed to four points, 21-17, he came into his own. Carter’s final 15 minutes were one last masterclass in how to run a game under pressure.
There were a couple of long raking kicks to the touchlines, pinning Australia right back into their own territory. Then, with 10 minutes to play, a drop goal from 40m out. That took the All Blacks lead up to seven. Carter has kicked eight drop goals in his 112 Tests. Two of them in his last two games. The brilliant thing about this one was that he hadn’t telegraphed it by dropping back into the pocket. Instead, he seemed to snap it away almost spontaneously.
Soon after, a deft chip over the top in midfield. Carter chased it, but was beaten to it by Kurtley Beale, so he hit him with a hard low tackle around the knees. It knocked him flat and sent the ball flying loose for a turnover. Carter followed that with a penalty from just inside the Australian half, off the back of a scrum. And at last a final conversion, from right in front of the posts. Followed, seconds later, by the most joyous celebrations.
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