Dan Carter singles out Jonny Wilkinson when ranking his five toughest opponents

Monday, 10 October 2022 at 11:06

byRugby Rucker

Dan Carter experienced it all in his 112 tests for the All Blacks, and now he has ranked some those exchanges on the international rugby field.

Ahead of his Kickathon event for UNICEF and the DC10 Fund, the 40-year-old ran through his “best of the best” in a lengthy interview with the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.

DAN CARTER'S TOUGHEST OPPONENTS:

#5. Thierry Dusautoir (France)

CARTER SAID: "He had some blinding games in big moments — none more so than in the 2007 and 2011 World Cup games against the All Blacks."

DID YOU KNOW? He broke the record for most tackles in a match, making 38 tackles against the All Blacks in the 2007 World Cup final

#4. Brian O'Driscoll & Paul O'Connell (Ireland)

CARTER SAID: "Two giants of the game that have worn the green jersey were Paul O'Connell and Brian O'Driscoll. Their work rate and how they conducted themselves on and off the pitch was exemplary."

#3. Jonah Lomu (New Zealand)

CARTER SAID: "He was the toughest player. I played against him once, I was 19-year-old and tried to tackle him, kinda woke up five metres back. He changed the game of rugby.

#2. Schalk Burger (South Africa)

CARTER SAID: “A real competitor and absolute top bloke off the field as well. His mindset was a little bit different when he was out there competing. That just made him such a tough opponent to come up against.”

DID YOU KNOW? Burger was a member of the 2007 Rugby World Cup-winning team, has twice been named South African Rugby Player of the Year (in 2004 and 2011), and was named IRB Player of the Year in 2004, among other accolades

#1. Jonny Wilkinson (England)

CARTER SAID: “Probably because I held him in such high regard and had a huge amount of respect for him, it was Jonny Wilkinson. He was an absolute student of the game,

“It was a wild, windy test match down in Wellington, I was on the bench and I hadn’t played a test match for the All Blacks, and he just took that game and, as a 10 that wants to control a game, I’ve never seen anything like it.

“I got the best seats in the house on the bench. Part of me was going, ‘Man, do I really want to get on here because he’s just completely dominating this game’.

“Thankfully I didn’t. I made my test debut the following week, which was a much better game to remember, but I just remember sitting there going, ‘If I ever do play 10’ – I was playing 12 a lot then – ‘this is how you need to control a game’.

“I had a huge amount of respect for him and playing against him.”

DID YOU KNOW? Wilkinson's brother, Mark, was also a Newcastle player who made 16 appearances in the Premiership for the side between 2002 and 2005, predominantly as a centre