Carter "absolutely" in doubt for rest of the world cup!!!

[ExcaLiBuR]

Dan Carter out of RWC...

WELLINGTON, 2 Oct. - New Zealand fly half Daniel Carter has been ruled out of Rugby World Cup 2011 with a serious groin injury.
Coach Graham Henry told a press conference at the team hotel that the 29-year-old record points scorer seriously injured the tendon in his left groin during kicking practice at the captain's run training session on Saturday.
Carter was initially withdrawn from the All Blacks final Pool A match against Canada on Sunday but later scans revealed that the injury was serious enough to rule Carter out of the whole tournament.
Carter was due to captain New Zealand for the first time in the absence of Richie McCaw, who has an injured foot.

Colin Slade will take Carter's place at No.10 while hooker Andrew Hore will be captain for the first time.

Carter, who missed the earlier Pool A match against Japan with a back injury, has played in 85 Tests for New Zealand and scored 1,250 points. This was his third Rugby World Cup.
Aaron Cruden has been named as Carter's fly half replacement in the New Zealand squad, subject to RWCL approval

 

[Tricia McMillan]

Disastrous.

That is all.

 

[kaftka]

Dear god...

I feel ill. And not just because it's a Sunday morning.

*edit.. Holy crap it's Sunday afternoon.

 

[Nicolaas]

and i thought frans steyn was bad......

 

[Conal]

it may be awful for the all blacks

but for everyone else
THANK YOU SWEET JESUS

 

[Wally]

Goodnight sweet prince

 

[shtove]

Cheeky.

But this does reset the calculations for backrow defences. Smartcooky refers to betting odds, which is interesting, but I wonder how well the ABs will do without Carter in varying their game when the pressure comes on. 2007 is the painful example.

 

[james5000]

Colin Slade

The country is calling for a new hero. Its time to stand up Colin.

I am backing you 100% to take us to victory. Hopefully you can stay injury free haha.

 

[William18]

There is no point second guessing now. We just have to back him the whole way.

 

[kovana]

Goodnight sweet prince

lol

 

[ExcaLiBuR]

I think NZ rugby will be fine, DC is great but u should be fine. The games will be much closer now, no huge blow outs

 

[LittleGuy]

Is there like 12 threads on this?

This reaction has me frigthened for God only knows the travesty and emotional distress we would all in the rugby family face if anything were to happen to Our Ed who I fully predict will ascend to full god status in tonights match by scoring four solo tries, for the first time ever the IRB will actually place Ed Fairhurst's name into the official pool standings with one bonus point where he will be ranked higher in the world rankings by himself than Namibia.

 

[ExcaLiBuR]

I am aussie but i never wish this on any team! I want the wallabies to win the RWC by beating the BEST! Lets hope Slade steps up and gives us a good tournment still. You never know Slade might pull something out of his ass and become the new DC but 10 times better?

 

[Deadmonton]

It's a blow to the All Blacks, but the loss of one player, no matter how key, is not going to destroy their chances of winning. There are still 29 players in the squad who are at the absolute top of the sport.

 

[ACT1NUP]

Why Cruden? Like Slade but even with less experience. I'm not a big fan of Donald, but I think he was a better choice; at least he has the experience the other two don't have.
I trust in Slade anyway. Should Carter absence push Henry to promote SBW as Nonu's mate?. Without Carter the All Blacks are losing creativity; will all this force further chanches in the miedfield?

Even with Carter out I don't think we lose alot of creativity at all with the likes of Weepu, Nonu, Williams, Jane, Dagg etc. What we musn't forget is that while there is daylight between Carter and the backups there is also daylight between Carter and any other flyhalf in the world when he's in top form. Creativity won't be a problem the problems will come when it comes to general kicking and goal kicking (where theres not too many quality options). So long as the replacement is getting front foot ball there should be no huge problems in our backs being able to cut loose.

"When a team outgrows individual performance and learns team confidence, excellence becomes a reality," -Joe Paterno. Just nicked this quote off a mate so true ABs will be sweet.

 

[Larksea]

devistating, the RWC wont be the same from now on without the un-desputed #1 star of the game. For the All Blacks it's both a curse and a blessing, A cusse because they have lost a star and the one player that their gameplan revolves around - the blessing and only +ve aspect I can think of is that the All Blacks wont now be seen as favorites, they will go into the play offs - semi's and beyond as underdogs and fight with an underdog mentality - without the saftey of dan carter other players will have to step up play out of their skin.

For the All Blacks, I guess slade will get first dibs but Weepu should also be considered simply because of his big game head and ability and Cruden should be given a run as well to see if that brilliant form of his can some out at test level. Slade has been pretty average so far, not bad but not special either and it will be important to see if Either weepu or Cruden have something special to offer.

Devistated, not just as an All Black supporter but for carter as well, being injured in the AB's last 207 game and now this, he must be totally gutted.

 

[nickdnz]

It's really terrible. You talk about a worst case scenario. Feel sorry for the guy, but absolute panic at our chances.

I think Cruden needs to be given a shot if Slade doesn't look like the good this game. The pressure is on Slade now as a first choice player, but Cruden is a very creative footballer who just played the season of his career so far.

 

[irelandfan123]

Bet you miss Nicky Evans now

 

[Sam Owen]

Im sure Slade is up to the job, bad news for DC but I dont think its that bad for the ABs.

 

[nickdnz]

The only small bit of comfort I can find is that South Africa won a RWC with Butch James.