Dan Carter's unwavering belief being backed up by All Blacks

UNWAVERING BELIEF: Former Rugby World Cup winning All Black legend and ISPS Handa ambassador, Dan Carter, was speaking at a launch event in Elm Park Golf Club as Golf Ireland and ISPS Handa announced a new partnership. This agreement aims to grow participation in Ireland for golfers with a disability. ISPS Handa will become the title sponsor of the ISPS Handa Irish Open for Golfers with a Disability and will be the lead partner of Golf Ireland’s Golf4All programmes. Pic: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy

Few gave the All Blacks much chance of scaling the heights and claiming a fourth World Cup crown when they were filleted by South Africa in Twickenham two months ago.

That 35-7 defeat was New Zealand’s worst in a long and proud history and it did much to dilute the belief building up around Ian Foster’s side after a year in which they had appeared to rebound from a stressful summer in 2022.

Dan Carter was one of those whose confidence never wavered.

The legendary out-half spoke in the wake of that game with an unwavering confidence. The former All Black positioned the defeat as a one-off, pointing to the fact that his old side had played much of the match with 14 men and that they just weren’t quite ‘on it’ on the night.

Now here they are just days out from another final, their fifth. The Springboks are again in the opposite corner at the Stade de France on Saturday night but the Kiwis are approaching it full of confidence and with much the easier of the paths in the rearview mirror.

“I know in sport that you only need to be a couple of per cent off mentally and you can lose by thirty points, like they did on that occasion,” said Carter, in Dublin to launch a partnership between Golf Ireland and ISPS Handa to grow participation for golfers with disability.

“The reason why there was such a points difference in that Twickenham game I’m not sure because I wasn’t involved, but they were off. I know that with the work they were doing, the self-belief that the team had and the growth that they’ve had this year before the World Cup that that was a very uncharacteristic performance for them.

“There are such small margins and not being on mentally can make a big difference so I always knew that they could be there. I have been to four World Cups and I know that whether it is France or Ireland or South Africa are favourites it doesn’t guarantee you success.” 

Carter, a two-time World Cup winner, stressed the fact that this tournament places pressure on players and teams that is far above anything experienced through the rest of a four-year cycle, all the more so come the knockout rounds.

New Zealand, to be fair, have found themselves up against it just twice in France, losing their opener to the hosts but pulling through an epic quarter-final against Ireland. That latter game was won only after withstanding a ferocious 37-phase assault from Andy Farrell’s side.

As snapshots go, it said everything about how New Zealand have rediscovered their best since those troubles last year and Carter has had a birds eye view in this regeneration having been invited into the inner sanctum at different points this last while.

Other legends have been brought in to camp besides – Richie McCaw, Conrad Smith, Kevin Mealamu and Liam Messam among them – and Foster has highlighted the benefits of having this volume of know-how and presence around in recent weeks.

“I have really enjoyed going back there and just seeing the growth and the mentality and the self-belief because it has been a challenging three or four years for the All Blacks in terms of not being able to perform consistently at a high level.

“So for them this year to build some consistency and to start performing well… The likes of the forwards coach Jason Ryan and Joe Schmidt, who you know only too well over here, have added a lot of confidence and accuracy to the team. They have been huge additions.

“For me it has just been about spending time with some of the younger guys or even some of the older guys who are on their last World Cup. Just being an open book and being able to share some of my experiences and playing at four different World Cups.”