DAN CARTER SAYS it would be a dream to emulate Jonny Wilkinson’s achievements in French rugby following his move to Racing 92, Johnny Sexton’s former club.
World Rugby Player of the Year Carter was unveiled at Racing on Friday having helped New Zealand retain the Rugby World Cup with a man-of-the-match display in their 34-17 win over Australia in last month’s final.
A four-time Super Rugby champion with the Crusaders, fly-half Carter has already won the Top 14 – during an injury-hit spell with Perpignan in 2009.
But it is another number 10 in Wilkinson – second in the list of all-time Test point scorers behind Carter - who set the benchmark for foreign players in France.
Legendary Englishman Wilkinson - who won the World Cup in 2003 – was instrumental in leading Toulon to back-to-back Heineken Cup titles as well as Top 14 glory in 2014.
Asked about matching Wilkinson’s achievements, Carter replied: “That would be amazing. You know he won multiple European Championships. He won Top 14. I think he had an amazing time here in France.
“To be honest, when I was following the end of his career I took some real inspiration from that. A lot of people had probably written him off up until then.
“It revived his career and he finished on a real high so I could only dream of the success he had in his time here in France. So yeah, we’ll have to wait and see.”
Pressed on why he joined Racing, who will pay him €2 million a year for his services, Carter added: “There were a number of reasons really. And I guess the first one for me was the vision of the club.
“It’s a pretty exciting future here at the club. I guess the calibre of players, the play here and wanting to strive to I guess to win competitions.
“And after playing for the Crusaders and All Blacks – two very successful teams. So I wanted to play for a team that had a strong vision for winning.”
