Dan Carter: The Autobiography of an All Blacks Legend by Dan Carter

Author:Dan Carter
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2015-11-14T00:00:00+00:00

FINAL YEAR DIARY: Christchurch, 21 May 2015

Phone call recorded at Christchurch Airport as I wait to fly to Sydney for a game against the NSW Waratahs. It’s essentially a must-win if the Crusaders are to make the playoffs. I missed a few games with the continuation of a leg injury, and, most importantly, my son Fox was born.

For the first few rounds I was not in a good space mentally: ‘Here we go, back to where I was last year.’ Thankfully it came back alright. I was lacking my speed and bounce, and it was troubling me all the way through until three or four weeks ago. I came off the bench against the Highlanders in early April, but only played 20 minutes until I got a whack on it again. I started to feel really low about that time, but mercifully it actually bounced back reasonably well after the game. The next few weeks we had a win over the Blues and losses to the Hurricanes and Chiefs. I was just playing crap rugby, as all I could think about was my leg. I had no confidence at all — it was starting to really do my head in.

That’s why I haven’t been kicking for the last month. It’s my plant foot and all my weight goes through that part of the leg when I’m kicking. It got so bad that I’d subconsciously changed my kicking motion, which is where all my accuracy comes from.

I kicked really poorly against the Chiefs, and only noticed on reviewing video that I’d changed my motion. Normally I’d plant when I was going to kick on my right foot and land back on my right foot after contact with the ball. But on review I noticed that I wasn’t kicking through on my right foot any more; I was planting my foot and landing on my left. I was hiding and protecting my right leg.

It was getting out of hand, and with the bye a few weeks away I had a chance to try to fix it. I got in contact with the All Blacks physio to put a plan in place. It centred on taking the load off my leg and doing a lot of rehab to try to get it right. And it worked; it has finally settled down. Even though I wasn’t kicking in the last couple of games, it’s been so much better playing without having to think about my leg. It’s still not 100 per cent and I’m not sure if it ever will be. But maybe this is the new normal?

The other major change has been the birth of Fox, my second son. I went over to South Africa and returned early to be around for the birth — that all worked out well. I got to be there for the delivery, something I didn’t want to miss after experiencing it the first time with Marco. I wondered in advance if it would be just as emotional.

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