Carter sets record despite lapses

Published: 7:39AM Sunday November 22, 2009 Source: Reuters

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Dan Carter set a New Zealand points record on Saturday, won his personal duel with Jonny Wilkinson and finished on the winning side against England for the eighth time.

It is a measure of the distance the All Blacks flyhalf has travelled since his test debut against Wales in 2003, though, that the questions to the team management after the 19-6 victory at Twickenham concentrated on his errors on a rain-drenched afternoon rather than another hugely influential performance.

Carter overhauled Andrew Mehrtens' New Zealand record with his first successful kick of the match. But he missed two penalties in the first half after succeeding with 31 of his last 32 penalty attempts before Sunday's match and one kick from the hand aimed at the corner flag after the break bounced over the dead ball line.

"You want a lineout five metres from the in goal," New Zealand backs coach Steve Hansen told a news conference. "The margin of error is one metre one way or one metre the other. Unfortunately today it was the other way but he normally gets it pretty right."

Head coach Graham Henry added: "I guess we're used to perfection aren't we? When he missed a couple of goals, it's not perfection, I'd say he be disappointed in that. You don't expect to have 10 out of 10 every time but 9.5 is not bad."

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  • Piglet said on 2009-11-22 @ 14:03 NZDT: Report abusive post

    I never thought I would skip getting up in the middle of the night to watch the ABs play England - but I did and I'm not sorry - watched the replay, was uninspired and still have no faith in the ABs winning on home soil in 2011

  • Sportsfan74 said on 2009-11-22 @ 12:53 NZDT: Report abusive post

    YAWN. One try in 80 minutes. Solid rugby but should do better against a determined but limited English team. They lack flair.

  • nesianbro_nz said on 2009-11-22 @ 12:29 NZDT: Report abusive post

    slept just after 5mins woke up just minutes before the game ended clearly didnt miss much... oh well ill just have to watch replays of the all whites win last week far more exciting... come on rugby new zealand its getting pretty boring....

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