Final fulfilment: All Blacks fly-half Dan Carter just one win away from World Cup glory
New Zealand pivot aiming to round off his epic career by lifting the Webb Ellis Cup
Carter was in great form on Saturday as his composed drop-goal helped turn the tide before a stripped ball set up the move that led to Beauden Barrett’s second and all-important try in New Zealand’s 20-18 semi-final victory over South Africa.
To see someone who’s gone through what [Dan Carter] has in the last few years climb back in and control the team is great
He converted both and also slotted a second-half penalty to move ahead of Grant Fox as his country’s leading World Cup scorer.
Nobody in the sport – apart from perhaps his opponents this week – would probably begrudge Carter the ultimate farewell after gracing the game for more than a decade while suffering more than his share of heartache.
He was a young, peripheral player in the 2003 campaign when New Zealand went out in the semi-finals, and he limped off injured 55 minutes into the shock quarter-final defeat by France in Cardiff four years later.
In 2011 on home soil everything was set up for him to make amends, only for another injury early in the pool phase to force him to watch his team-mates march to glory from the sidelines.
