Carter the Player of the Decade

• Former Lions coach cleared of indecent assault
• Dramatic Sevens format change angers players, coaches
• WANTED | Sponsor for Currie Cup

Cape Town - World Rugby's fans have spoken ... and voted All Blacks flyhalf Dan Carter the best player of the past decade.

Register your interest for the British & Irish Lions tickets in South Africa 2021

Carter edged fellow New Zealand great Richie McCawto the accolade after several rounds of voting had narrowed the 16-player field down to the final two.

The All Blacks duo haven't played a Test since the Rugby World Cup final in 2015, but that didn't stop them from proceeding to the 'final' of World Rugby's competition - which was dominated by New Zealand players.

In the 'semi-finals' of the fan vote, Carter saw off All Blacks playmaker Beauden Barrett, while McCaw beat compatriot Kieran Read.

Only two Springboks made the final 16, with Bryan Habana losing out to All Blacks centre Ma'a Nonu and Tendai "Beast" Mtawarira beaten by McCaw, both in the opening round.

Carter, still only 37, is widely regarded as the greatest flyhalf - if not player - of all time.

He played 112 Tests, winning 99, drawing one and losing just 12.

He scored 29 tries and landed 293 conversions, 281 penalties and eight drop goals for a world leading 1 598 Test points.

In addition, Carter made 141 appearances for the Crusaders, scoring a record 1 708 points.

Carter is a two-time World Cup winner, a three-time Super Rugby champion and boasts nine Tri-Nations/Rugby Championship victories.

Carter also tasted success in both France and Japan as a member of the victorious Top 14 Perpignan and Racing 92 sides, as well as Kobelco Steelers in the Top League.

Off the field of play, Carter's numerous awards include:

- Two-time New Zealand Player of the Year

- Three-time World Rugby Player of the Year

- BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year

How did Habana lose out to Nonu one wonders.

Where is Morne Steyn in all of this?   Did you and O not claimed he is opn par with Carter when it comes to flyhalf performances?

It's hilarious to think that the average Beast would even feature among that list of greats.

Totally absurd.

The world has truly gone mad.

Carter is a genius. Fully deserves his spot as best player in the history of the game.

CC

Spot on - Carter is a real great and n further discussion is necessary,   

Of course you would, Stupid.

Must say I'm a little surprised you didn't pick Elton over Carter.

Let me guess, Jacques Du Plessis is a better loosie than McCaw ... and so is Kolisi ... right?

McCaw is overrated for sure. 

Carter was a great player but was he the greatest ever. How about Naas Botha a rugby genius if ever there was one. 

Er HasBeen, this may be news to you, but the decade isn't forever.

Gosh I am amazed that Puke, Rose, Jacobs and Elton Jantjies never made the list of great players.

What a disappointment for all us Springbok supporters.

"Posted by: CleanCut (8905 posts)

It's hilarious to think that the average Beast would even feature among that list of greats.

Totally absurd.

The world has truly gone mad.

Carter is a genius. Fully deserves his spot as best player in the history of the game."

It was a post in jest Cloudy to arouse the unconverted Bok supporters.  

Carter deserves all the credit bestowed on him. He was a true great of the rugby game.

Just got back from walking the dog around the lake.

Still walking in shorts, no snow or rain with the temp. hovering around 6 C - 9 C.

Heaven on earth to be honest.

Trust you have a great festive season with your family and friends.

We have always hold our Xmas celebration and meal on Christmas eve so that the children and grandchildren/great grandchildren can celebrate with the in-law families on Christmas day.

Merry Xmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year for 2020.

All the best to all.

Dr Mozzzz wee cc was saying Carter was the "best player in the history of the gams" I suggested Naa s was. 

Dumbass Cloudy crashes again! 

Bwhahahahahahaha  

No need to be rude Beenz.

We do our best to please!

Cloudy Clown just crashed again because of her rude remarks. 

Kolisi and Du Plessis better than McCaw. Hahahahaha very funny from the rugby noob. 

Well Danie Craven rated Naas as the best. Okay since Craven other players need to be considered. 

Naas was a genius general. A master strategist. That I suppose is why you can't recognize his greatness. Above for pay grade fat Dave. 

Dave face the truth. You lack rugby acumen!

Please pay closer attention to what I post and you may learn the game at least to rugby 101 level. Anything more would be beyond you wee Dave. 

In the meantime stick to comments on the score and who is on the field, the ref and that sort of thing where you might get it right!

Hahahahahaha!!! 

Saf, as a WP man, I didn't like Naas much, but I saw a few games where he put the backline away sublimely.

 IMO it's stupid to pick a "best player ever" ...there is no such thing.

Saffex obviously missed some amazing try saving low tackles Naas made. Naas had real pace and was superb on his feet. 

What the ignorant dud Dave doesn't know is that the Bulls coach Burman said to Naas he didn't want him tackling as he didn't want to risk injuries (Nass being such a match winner)

Doc Craven may well be right about Naas. 

Saffex time to acknowledge you sad lack of rugby acumen!

Cloudy Clown just admit you have no idea what you are talking about. I had a great Christmas dispite not knowing it was Christmas. Bwhahahaha what a goosfter poor Cloudy is. 

“ Give me Honnibal, Stransky, Hennie le Roux, Butch and Pollard over Naas”

This is part of something posted by someone who is actually actively coaching a very successful team (I accept that the name of a certain flyhalf will be sending some in a tailspin again but the point I’m making with this quote has nothing really to do with the particular player but more with the above remark:

“ An interesting point here, is that in his last 13 starts, Morne Steyn's average was 13.38, which indicates an improvement, directly opposed to the alleged "slump in form"... If I include his few minutes (5) as fullback replacement, it is 12.42 points per game average over the last 14 matches.

We can also add the fact that the average number of tries scored by the Springboks in Morne's last 13 starts was 4 per match (52 tries in total).

Average tries scored per match:

1. (0.27) Joel Stransky

2. (0.24) Piet Visagie

3. (0.15) Jannie de Beer

4. (0.15) Jaco vd Westhuyzen

5. (0.143) Morne Steyn

6. (0.1) Hansie Brewis

7. (0.07) Butch James

8. (0.07) Naas Botha

... (0.03) Pat Lambie

... (0) Johan Goosen

In terms of numbers, Morne scored 8 tries, Piet Visagie and Joel Stransky 6, Jaco vd Westhuyzen 5.... And the great running flyhalf Homiball a full one! Even Honiball's sub (Franco Smith), scored 2...”

Maybe someone remembers what Burman van zyl said to Naas. 

But let's face it Saffexnutter saying Kolisi is as good as McCaw is a blunder not matched on the rugby board to date. Hahahahahaha.

Rooitwit's saying Luke better than Schalk Burger comes close. 

Man oak you are a riot! 

Even sharktwit is schooling poor snapster. 

Dave doesn't understand the game. 

He has a long list of players which he tr otts out at times and calls them his selection of some squad or other. 

That of course is why Stephanie would not make my team......he is all but useless over the ball on the ground. In fact he tends to be poor at most things:

1. Reading the play ....4

2 Fetching.....2

3 Hard yards running....5

4 Open field running 4

5 Passing ...5

6 Offloading ...3

7 Lineouts ....5....a shocker

8 Process tackling....7

9 Open field tackling ...4

10  Defensive pressure.....8

Altogether he gets a 4.6 rating. The most useful thing Dud did at the WC was his charging  onto Ford, just after the half (just as Rassie charged Larkham back when). All that process stuff could have been done as well or better by other players.

Stick with moz!

Oddly enough my scores are totally plausible.....when I started breaking down his functions, my overall impression of him as hopelessly overhyped became obvious.

As for a blindsider having no role on the ground.....nonsense....even centres have a fetching role.

Flankers primary role is to be the first to the ball at the tackle situation as the ruck is formed. If they are not, it means backline players get pulled into rucks to compete for the ball. They defend the open side and blindside respectively providing cover defence. At least 2 out of the back row should be able to compete on the ground, but ideally all three. 

You are making my point Dave. Because we had a stellar fetcher in Vermeulen.....Kolisi and Dud de Toit weren't judged for their poor fetching.

Because we had a pressure defence that contained the opponents and was stingy about open field space....Dud's cumbersome open field play wasn't exposed.

You understood this early in the WC, but then like most others you couldn't see that Bok defensive dominance was masking Dud's weaknesses. Take the Welsh try where he failed to shift onto the Welsh scrummie and created a fatal overlap..

A ball carrier that always gets knocked down by the first tackler....and never, ever offloads.......give me a break!

The blindside loosie should be the first to the ruck when the opposition plays down the blindside. 

For the Boks sometimes it is the number 6 and number 8 that make the most contribution at the ruck, whereas the number 7 is more of a ball carrier. Francois Louw was a good fetcher, so having him along with Vermuelen was enough to allow Steph to roam. 

That is the problem with the Deysel twins, unless they have an out and out specialist fetcher at 6, their teams will struggle against mobile back rows that can compete on the ground. The twins are decent provincial players, but to have them both in an international back-row would mean losing the battle of the breakdown