{"id":499800,"date":"2026-03-28T09:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T09:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/499800\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T09:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T09:06:10","slug":"dan-carter-confirms-he-is-coming-out-of-retirement-aged-44-page-2-of-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/499800\/","title":{"rendered":"Dan Carter confirms he is coming out of retirement aged 44 &#8211; Page 2 of 3"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BACK ROW<\/p>\n<p>6. Schalk Burger (South Africa)<\/p>\n<p>Burger\u2019s\u00a086 Test caps\u00a0saw him become one of rugby\u2019s most feared flankers. Known for his leadership and tenacity, he was crucial to South Africa\u2019s\u00a02007 World Cup victory.<\/p>\n<p>Carter on Burger:\u00a0\u201cA real competitor and absolute top bloke off the field. He was tough to play against.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>7. Richie McCaw (New Zealand)<\/p>\n<p>With\u00a0148 caps, McCaw is arguably the best openside flanker ever. His leadership helped New Zealand secure\u00a0two Rugby World Cups (2011 &amp; 2015).<\/p>\n<p>Carter on McCaw:\u00a0\u201cI learned so much from playing alongside him. A real leader who took us to back-to-back World Cups.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>8. Thierry Dusautoir (France)<\/p>\n<p>Dusautoir captained France\u00a056 times\u00a0and earned\u00a080 caps. His work rate and consistency made him a standout in France\u2019s near-miss\u00a02011 World Cup campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Carter on Dusautoir:\u00a0\u201cHe had some blinding games in big moments, especially against the All Blacks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>HALFBACKS<\/p>\n<p>9. Aaron Smith (New Zealand)<\/p>\n<p>Smith\u2019s\u00a0118 caps\u00a0as a scrum-half made him indispensable to the All Blacks. His vision and quick service helped control the pace of countless matches.<\/p>\n<p>10. Jonny Wilkinson (England)<\/p>\n<p>Wilkinson earned\u00a091 caps\u00a0and is famed for his drop goal that won England the\u00a02003 World Cup. His dedication and kicking prowess made him a true rugby warrior.<\/p>\n<p>Carter on Wilkinson:\u00a0\u201cI really looked up to him and tried to emulate his work ethic. The 2005 Lions tour was a fanboy moment for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ruck.co.uk\/dan-carter-confirms-he-is-coming-out-of-retirement-aged-44\/3\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">CONTINUES ON PAGE THREE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Like this:<\/p>\n<p>Like Loading&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"sd-link-color\"\/>\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BACK ROW 6. Schalk Burger (South Africa) Burger\u2019s\u00a086 Test caps\u00a0saw him become one of rugby\u2019s most feared flankers.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-499800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}