The Star: October 21, 2021

The Star Thursday October 21 2021
12
NEWS
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
The pursuit of kicking the perfect ball
CAREER: Dan Carter kicks a conversion in the 80th-minute
with his right foot to seal the 2015 Rugby World Cup
final between New Zealand and Australia at Twickenham
Stadium in 2015.
PHOTO: GETTY
Dan Carter has just
released his book Dan
Carter 1598, ($69.99
Upstart Press). Today
we publish an extract
I remembered how my father
always taught me to kick using
both feet. It’s something
I’d always practised but never
achieved in a game. I realised
this was the moment to do it, as a
bit of a tribute to him.
I’ll never forget the first points
I scored in the All Blacks jersey.
Hamilton, 21 June 2003. Doug
Howlett has scored the first try
to put us two points up against
Wales. I’m standing at the back
of my run-up for the conversion
and I’ve never been so nervous in
my life.
I’d visualised this moment
since I was a child, kicking
goals to win World Cups in my
backyard — the All Blacks down
by one point, the final whistle’s
gone and I’m kicking from the
sideline to win the game. I’d
been training for this since I
could walk, when my father used
to get my leg and swing it like I
was kicking a ball. But to actually
do it, on the international
stage, was completely different.
It was like the whole country’s
emotions were riding on that one
kick. And it’s simple. You either
get it or you don’t. The fans, the
Dan Carter 1598 is a
celebration of the All Blacks
legend’s world record test
career.
country, they are either happy, or
they aren’t.
I place the ball on the tee. Go
through my routine — five steps
back, three across. Look up to
the post and visualise the ball
going through. Stare at the sweet
spot of the ball. Tell myself to
relax. Step forward, head down,
follow through. I look up as the
ball sails through the posts and
feel the biggest relief. I went on
to score 20 points that game, all
off the back of that ball sailing
through the posts on my first
kick. That game changed everything.
After that I embraced
pressure. I wanted more moments
like that. I wanted to take
the kick that wins the game.
Looking back now, to have
scored 1598 points over 13 years
and 112 games, it blows me away.
Overtaking legendary kickers
that I looked up to — Grant
Fox, Michael Lynagh, Andrew
Mehrtens, Ronan O’Gara, Neil
Jenkins, Jonny Wilkinson — is
something I could never have
dreamed of. I was fortunate to
play in so many amazing All
Blacks teams which gave me
plenty of opportunities to kick
conversions and penalties and
score tries. Without them, there’s
no way I would have gotten close
to scoring 1598 points. These
photos capture so many amazing
moments we shared in the black
jersey, and I’m filled with nostalgia
looking back on these times.
When I look through these
pages, I also see a never-ending
journey: the pursuit of kicking
the perfect ball. A pursuit that
started back in Southbridge,
Canterbury, where my dad built
me posts in the backyard for my
eighth birthday. As soon as I
could kick the ball over the posts,
I’d go back another five metres
until eventually I was kicking the
length of the lawn, over a fence,
around a tree, searching for that
perfect kick.
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