Has Dan Carter Played the Final Game of an Illustrious All Black Career?

It is beginning to look increasingly unlikely Dan Carter will ever make it back to the top of his game. After spending more time sidelined with injury than actually playing in recent years, the All Blacks fly-half has picked up another knock in what was his ITM Cup comeback game in the weekend, as per TVNZ. 

While it has been suggested that he may indeed play this weekend, it is yet another reminder that Carter is not getting any younger. His body is not standing up to the knocks as it used to and whether he will ever get himself back into condition to add to his 100 tests is starting to look questionable.

But what a 100 tests it has been.

Regarded by many to be the greatest fly-half the world has ever seen, Carter has hardly put a foot wrong in an international career spanning over a decade. Few others can claim to have the all-round game he possesses. Perhaps his only flaw has been the lack of a drop kick, but even this he has added to his arsenal over the past five years.

Initially a play-maker at inside centre, who would take the ball to the line, running dangerously and putting others away, he became a director of play. He still retained the ability to take the line on, possessing a strong fend and explosiveness off the mark, but complemented this with vision and a kicking game that enabled him to steer his team around the park. 

His goal kicking has improved too. He is perhaps not among that elite group in this category, but he is still pretty good nonetheless. Of his 1442 test points, 1279 have come from either penalty kicks or conversions.

He is a physical player too, a strong defender who tackles low. It is rare to see him fall off a tackle and it is not uncommon for him to go looking for them to make. There are games where he will be among the leaders in tackles made for his team, acting in a similar way to a loose forward in the defensive line.

Perhaps this physicality is catching up to him. His injuries have not deterred him though, as he still throws himself into contact as confidently as ever.

It is rare to find a fly-half with all of these abilities at such a high level. Many of the greats tend have a weakness in at least one area. Not Carter though, it is that which has made him such a good player for such a long time.

The second test of the 2005 British and Irish Lions Tour to New Zealand is generally considered his greatest performance and, indeed, one of the greatest individual performances ever. It was the night he eclipsed his opposite, Jonny Wilkinson, as the world's best fly-half.

As the All Blacks racked up 48 points to blow a hapless Lions team off the park, Carter notched up 33 of these. Among this, he scored two tries, four conversions and five penalties. He could do no wrong that night, cutting the Lions defence to pieces with his strong running game and showed a near radar-accurate boot. 

Perhaps the most memorable try of his career came in this game. Receiving the ball in space up the right wing, he sauntered towards the line before gracefully dropping the ball onto his foot, putting through a masterful grubber to beat the cover defence and keep the ball in play at the same time. He would win the chase, touching down with inches to spare.

It was this type of mastery that characterised Carter's career. While a great controller of a game, it is his ability to create something from nothing, or to take the smallest of chances, that he will be most remembered for. 

He was carted off the field with a broken leg later that year, in a 30-13 win over the Wallabies in Australia. What he had already achieved was undeniable though and, unsurprisingly, he was named IRB Player of the Year.

From then on he was an automatic selection for the All Blacks. Even the prodigiously talented Nick Evans could not make a legitimate case to usurp Carter for his role and left for Europe after the 2007 World Cup in a disenchanted manner.

For Carter it was a dream run which ended in disaster, pulling up with an injury in the ill-fated World Cup campaign in France. Despite his consistent form, he has not had much luck at World Cups. Four years later he fell mid-tournament also, with a crippling groin injury. His display in the pool match against France was as good as any solo-performance in the tournament and his absence was noticeable in their rematch in the final.

His lack of World Cup stardom has been more than made up for in between time though. After Evans' departure in 2007, Carter became somewhat irreplaceable as the All Blacks No. 10.

There was no clear back-up and despite a relentless search for one, it was a quest that was never fulfilled. When Stephen Donald took over in Carter's absence in 2009, the All Blacks struggled and had their least successful period of the 21st century. 

It was not just Donald though. Colin Slade, Aaron Cruden, Mike Delany and Luke McAlister were all tried at various stages as well. None were necessarily poor. But none were anywhere near the level of Carter either.

When he returned to the team in late-2009, things began to look up again. Admittedly there was a handful of other regulars making their returns as well, but there was no one more important to have back on the field than Carter.

His class showed, as he pulled the strings to execute the running-game the All Blacks had struggled with earlier in the year. In white jersey's they dismantled a French side whom they had lost to earlier in the year, with Carter in sublime form.

It was form that would continue into 2010, where the All Blacks reclaimed their spot as the top team in the world. With Carter back in the picture, they implemented an attacking game plan to perfection.

He never quite reached those heights again though. Despite his undoubted class, a series of injuries have seen him unable to stay on the field for a consistent length of time since then.

In 2012 he was once again named IRB Player of the Year. At times his form that year was top-notch, but it was not as consistent as it had been earlier in his career and Kieran Read, Conrad Smith or Richie McCaw would have been more deserving of the award.

His form towards the end of the 2013 Super Rugby season was again of the highest class. But again he showed his increasing frailness and was sighted just six times in an All Black jersey, two of which he left the field early in.

The story has been much the same in 2014. After a six-month sabbatical, he returned to play a cameo role in the latter part of the Crusaders' season, but once again was sidelined with an injury.

While this most recent injury may not sound as serious as some of his past ones, it is a sign of the times. Carter is injury prone. In his first game of rugby for months he picked up yet another injury.

At his best, he remains the No. 1 fly-half in world rugby. But he is so rarely able to be at his best these days.

If he cannot stay on the field for a decent length of time, he cannot play himself into the form that makes him so dangerous. Additionally, if he is not playing, the All Blacks can hardly justify picking him; he has not been able to show that he is still better than the other options available.

Whether he wears the black jersey again or not, his place among the All Black greats is secure. Of the past decade, only Richie McCaw can claim to have had a more illustrious career and many claim him to be the best ever.

Late last year, the Otago Daily Times rated Carter as the fourth greatest All Black ever. Only McCaw, Colin Meads and Jonah Lomu rated higher, while he finished just in front of George Nepia and Michael Jones. That is illustrious company to be in.

In another list this year, Wynne Gray of The New Zealand Herald rated Carter as the fifth best of the post-World War II All Blacks. Again it was Lomu, McCaw and Meads, along with Sean Fitzpatrick, who rated ahead of him, while Michael Jones and Ian Kirkpatrick came in just behind him. Again, illustrious company to be in.

On both lists Lomu was the only back to rate higher than Carter and no fly-half rated higher than him. Grant Fox finished as the second-placed fly-half on the ODT's list, finishing 23rd overall, while no other was included in Wynne Gray's top 15.

He would likely feature similarly on a worldwide list. There are many fly-halves who have caught the public's imagination throughout the years: Barry John, Michael Lynagh, Jonny Wilkinson, Mark Ella, Phil Bennett, Stephen Larkham, Naas Botha and Hugo Porta, just to name a few.

But none of these men possessed quite the same all-round game at the high level Carter did. 

Unfortunately, he probably will not be around as a player to show us this game much longer. So appreciate him, while you still can.

It is a shame when careers have to end. But what a career it has been. 

How lucky are we that we have been able to watch it unfold?