Rugby: Sir Clive Woodward – Dan Carter destroyed my Lions, but it wasn’t the best number 10 ever

Former British and Irish Lions and England coach Sir Clive Woodward has described Dan Carter as the best number 10 in attack he has seen, the best not the best number 10 of all time.

Writing in his column for the Daily Mail, Woodward recalled Carter’s dominating performances in the 2005 All Blacks series against the Lions, whom Woodward coached.

“His 33 points in the second test at Wellington, including two brilliant attempts, were off the Richter scale and possibly the best individual performance I have witnessed at the test level. The perfect 10.”

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Woodward said the series was a wake-up call to how talented Carter was.

“Before the tour, I don’t think anyone in Britain and Ireland really registered the true depth of his talent. Until then he had played mostly center and kicked quite a few goals. He threw a pile of penalties against England when we were on the road in 2004, but I can’t recall a freakingly good superstar player at the time – he was a dependable Kiwi center and a prolific kicker.

“That changed when he switched to 10 and New Zealand walked away from the brilliant but slightly erratic Carlos Spencer. It was his big chance and he took it with both hands.”

Yet despite much praise for Carter’s career, Woodward believes that there is one of the top five that was slightly better than the great All Blacks.

“Jonny Wilkinson or Dan Carter? That’s the question I’m often asked. It’s a near-impossible choice. They were, by some distance, the two preeminent fly halves of their day, both coincidentally natural left-handers.

“They were both tough and durable: fly-halves are the goal at all levels of rugby, doubly so when they are world-class scorers. I would mark Jonny and Dan about the same as the best scorers we’ve seen, Dan was the one. best attacker 10 When Jonny was by far the best defense 10 I have ever seen.

“So where does that leave us? If they forced me into a corner, I would go with Jonny. Just. I was lucky enough to coach him for six years and I knew his game intimately. With Dan I admired him from afar.”