Dan Carter - Domestic Career

Domestic Career

Carter made his provincial debut for Canterbury in 2002, and in 2003 was signed by the Crusaders. Initially playing mainly at second five-eighth Carter reached the final of the Super 12 competition with the Crusaders in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. Although they lost the 2003 and 2004 finals, in 2005 Carter had moved to first five-eighth. He regularly played with Andrew Mehrtens before Mehrtens left the team following their 2004 season. In 2005 and 2006 the Crusaders won the competition, and in the 2006 season Carter scored the most individual points for a player in one season with 221. In April 2008, Carter was linked with a possible move to the Welsh Celtic League club Cardiff Blues, along with Guinness Premiership returnees Northampton Saints, until being linked to play next season with French teams RC Toulonnais as well as Stade Toulousain who in April 2008 offered Carter "the biggest rugby contract in world rugby", at £750,000 per year. In June 2008, Carter made the decision to sign a six-month contract with French club side Perpignan, who then paid Carter the equivalent of £30,000 per game, during his sabbatical season. On 31 January 2009 Carter ruptured his achilles tendon playing for Perpignan against Stade Francais but they still managed to win the Top 14. He ended up recovering earlier than expected and played for his home union, Canterbury, in the opening game of the 2009 Air New Zealand Cup. He then won selection to play for the All Blacks against Australia on 22 August 2009 after only recovering for a few months. He is now the top scorer in Super Rugby rugby history, with 1301 points as of May 2012.