Dan Carter rates his own performance in first rugby game on NZ soil since 2015

Former All Blacks five-eighth Dan Carter gave himself a pass mark after his first game of rugby in New Zealand since 2015, but was not expecting to make a marketers’ dream debut for the Blues next week against the Crusaders.

Carter surprisingly joined the Blues last month for Super Rugby Aotearoa but said he would need a few weeks to get up to speed and took his first tentative steps back on Saturday, playing for boyhood club Southbridge in a Canterbury club match.

Dan Carter getting a lift from dad to his club rugby game today. pic.twitter.com/yiBQHhJ7d0

— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 4, 2020

“If anyone saw that game today, I’d say myself that I’m a bit rusty,” Carter told reporters after he kicked six conversions and had a hand in two tries in Southbridge’s 54-14 victory over West Melton.

DC’s rates his return to NZ rugby:

Video Player is loading.

Play Video

PlaySkip BackwardSkip Forward

Unmute

Current Time 0:00

/

Duration 0:00

Loaded: 0%

Stream Type LIVE

Seek to live, currently behind liveLIVE

Remaining Time -0:00

 

1x

Playback Rate

Chapters

• Chapters

Descriptions

• descriptions off, selected

Captions

• captions settings, opens captions settings dialog
• captions off, selected

Audio Track

Fullscreen

This is a modal window.

The Video Cloud video was not found.

Error Code: VIDEO_CLOUD_ERR_VIDEO_NOT_FOUND

Session ID: 2025-05-11:b61d5338b3cabb22e068a3ca Player Element ID: brightcove-embedded-video

OK

Close Modal Dialog

Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.

Text

ColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanOpacityOpaqueSemi-Transparent

Text Background

ColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanOpacityOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparent

Caption Area Background

ColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanOpacityTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaque

Font Size

50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%

Text Edge Style

NoneRaisedDepressedUniformDrop shadow

Font Family

Proportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall Caps

ResetDone

Close Modal Dialog

End of dialog window.

Close Modal Dialog

This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button.

DC’s rates his return to NZ rugby:

“It’s good to make the first step in to potentially playing again. I’m not sure if I could play at Super Rugby level just yet. You leave those kinds of decisions up to the coaches.”

A three-times World Player of the Year and World Cup winner in 2011 and 2015, Carter spent his entire professional car eer in New Zealand playing for the Christchurch-based Crusaders.

He joined the Blues after stints in France and Japan, but has not played since February after Japan’s Top League was shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic.

He has also barely played in the past 18 months after undergoing neck surgery in 2019.

While many Crusaders fans good-naturedly considered his joining their bitter rivals the Blues as treasonable, there were hopes he might make his Super Rugby Aotearoa debut for the Blues next week in Christchurch.

“Whether I play or not, I’m not too worried,” Carter added after he played the entire 80 minutes on Saturday.

“I’ll leave that decision to (coach) Leon (MacDonald) and the selectors up at the Blues.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

But will he back in Christchurch next weekend to take on his old Crusaders side?? #rugby #rugbygram #superrugby #superrugbyaotearoa #bluesrugby #crusadersrugby #southbridge #canterburyrugby #clubrugby

A post shared by RugbyPass (@rugbypass) on Jul 3, 2020 at 9:39pm PDT