Carter fired up for new season

IAIN McGREGOR/The Press

REINVIGORATED: Leon MacDonald, left, skills coach Brent Frew and Dan Carter.

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There were plenty of critics of the New Zealand Rugby Union's decision to allow Daniel Carter to miss last year's Super 14, in favour of a six-month stint with French club Perpignan.

They soon had even more to bay about when the star first five-eighth ruptured an Achilles tendon, playing against Stade Francais.

A year on, though, Carter credits that ill-fated sojourn with helping him re-discover his enthusiasm for the game.

"I'm really excited," Carter said after completing his first training session with the Crusaders yesterday.

"2008 was the last time I played in a Crusaders jersey and it was a pretty tough year for myself. The motivation wasn't as high as it should have been and having that break – and now the fact that I'm pretty close to getting back into it – means I'm really pumped up for the season."

Carter is the the first of the Crusaders big-name All Blacks to front for training, with Richie McCaw, Brad Thorn and Kieran Read not expected until February 1 and Andy Ellis and Corey Flynn still a week away.

"I was still feeling pretty fresh [after the All Blacks end of year tour], hence coming back to training today. I'll be in and out for the next couple of weeks because I'm pretty keen to get back into it after missing last year," Carter said.

"I haven't played under Toddy [head coach Todd Blackadder] or Gibbo [backs coach Daryl Gibson] before and I'll be pretty keen to talk to them a bit and see the way that they want to play this season, rather than just come in a week before the first competition game not knowing."

The recently retired Leon MacDonald was also at Rugby Park yesterday. After suffering injury problems with the Japanese team Kintetsu, MacDonald is understood to have come back to Christchurch with an eye toward a future in coaching.

- © Fairfax NZ News