DOUBLE WORLD CUP winner Dan Carter will not rejoin French club Racing 92 due to medical reasons, the club announced today.
Carter, 36, who starred for the French giants between 2015-2018, has been deemed ineligible to play in France by the French National League (LNR) after his former outfit referred his medical results to the organisation which runs the Top 14 competition.
His health dossier was passed to the LNR as part of his registration as a Racing 92 squad member — as is the case with every new player in the league.
“Racing 92 handed over certain elements of his medical dossier to the experts designated by the French National League. Their opinion was unanimous: Dan Carter can’t play rugby in France,” said a statement.
“We are very disappointed of course but… the law is harsh but it is the law and we don’t compromise players’ health. We wish Dan the best for the future, a future at the same level of his immense career.”
The former Top 14 champions said last month that Carter would return as cover for ex-South Africa fly-half Pat Lambie, who announced his immediate retirement in January due to numerous concussions.
Other options at fly-half for the millionaire-backed outfit are Scotland’s Finn Russell, second-choice Ben Volavola and journeyman Raphael Lagarde.
Carter was expected to supplement the options at stand-off as Racing 92 eye a place in the end of season play-offs and a first European Champions Cup with a quarter-final tie against Toulouse on 31 March.
During his previous three-year stint in the French capital, Carter won the league title but failed to lift the European Cup, losing in two finals. He scored 445 points in 58 games. Before that, he won New Zealand’s provincial competition with Canterbury and Super Rugby with the Crusaders.
On the international front he twice lifted the World Cup, the Tri Nations and The Rugby Championship as well as a British and Irish Lions Test series with the All Blacks.
Carter’s last spell in France was tarnished on two occasions. He tested positive for anti-inflammatory drug corticosteroid in 2016 but was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing in April 2017.
In the same year, he was caught driving while two-times over the legal alcohol limit by French police and subsequently fined €1,000.
Carter was set for his third contract in the Top 14 having made only five appearance for Perpignan in 2009 because of an Achilles injury.
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