Former All Black first five Dan Carter watches on as Tipene Harrison, left, from Tamatea Rugby Club puts what he learned into practice. Photo / Paul Taylor
A group of lucky-local young rugby talents have been treated to a skills session with All Blacks legend Dan Carter at Craggy Range Winery.
The star first five took about 30 players between the ages of 8 and 14 through some kicking practice thanks to a partnership between his iSport Foundation and the winery's A Children's Christmas foundation today
.
Carter said the day was a lot of fun, and a great chance to give back to the kids of Hawke's Bay.
"I was really lucky growing up, I always had good support and people helping me through my career, but I realise it's not like that for everyone," he said.
"There's a lot of kids that don't have opportunities to even own a rugby ball or a kicking tee, or have access to the good coaching that I did."
Craggy Range started their foundation in 2018 to tackle child poverty in Hawke's Bay, and have since donated more than 7000 Santa sacks full of gifts to children in hardship.
Having heard about the initiative, Carter offered up a skills session for a lucky group of kids.
The session was then purchased by local businessman, Andy Lowe, for $25,000 and gifted back to A Children's Christmas, who partnered with the Hawke's Bay Rugby Union to give local clubs the chance to nominate deserving young players showing great potential.
Carter said he loves giving back to the next generation of players, the future of rugby.
"I feel very fortunate to be living the life that I do, and a lot of that is off the back of rugby," he said.
Coming into what Carter called a transition period of a career in which he had achieved a lot on the field, the 38-year-old is passionate about giving back to the sport.
He said the kids were awesome to work with: "The teenagers took it a bit more seriously, so they were feeding off every word that I was saying."
Carter said he very much enjoyed the youngest group of 8- and 9-year-olds, who were just out there having fun and kicking the ball around.
"It took me back to when I was their age, and the reason I got into rugby was for that enjoyment and fun," he said.
A proud son of Canterbury and representative for the province from 2002 to 2014, Carter didn't take quite as much enjoyment out of Hawke's Bay's last-minute 20-19 win over his former side on Saturday night.
He didn't see the game live (three boys at home means there isn't a lot of time for watching TV), but made sure he looked up the result that night to be prepared for the banter that would come his way in the Bay this week.
"If anything, it's probably made my trip a little bit easier to be honest," Carter said.
"Everyone in the Hawke's Bay seems to be walking around with a wee spring in their step."
While those three boys do keep him busy, the 112-cap All Black is keeping an eye on how certain teams and individuals are tracking in the Mitre 10 Cup.
"There's a lot of amazing young talent coming through, and that's why I love Mitre 10, it is the future of New Zealand rugby," Carter said.
That's a key reason why he had no interest in taking part himself this season - not wanting to get in the way of players seeking Super Rugby contracts or even higher honours.
One of those up-and-comers is Magpies first five Lincoln McClutchie, who Carter faced off against during this year's Top League season in Japan when his Kobe Steelers played McClutchie's NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes.
Carter said he had a quick chat with the 21-year-old after the game and wished him all the best for the future.
The Hawke's Bay connection at Kobe runs even deeper, with All Black lock Brodie Retallick on the books, along with former Magpie Richard Buckman.
"When I played alongside Bucky, I felt like my game really grew," Carter said, noting Buckman's unorthodox style, combined with a tremendous knowledge of the game and strong work ethic.