Dan Carter still remembers trying to tackle Pierre Spies

Carter used the Bulls No 8 to explain why you can no longer hide a fly-half in defence.

Dan Carter has named Pierre Spies as the carrier who made him understand a fly-half can no longer be protected in defence, describing the former Springboks No 8 as one of the fastest and biggest he ever had to stop. Speaking on the For The Love Of Rugby: South Africa podcast, published on Tuesday 25 August, Carter recalled Spies coming off the back of a scrum straight down his channel.

Who is the worst carrier you ever had to tackle? Comments.

“You’ve got to be brave”

“I was trying to tackle this 120kg number eight that could run 100m in 11 seconds.”

Carter’s point was not the collision itself but what it changed. He described an earlier era where Richie McCaw would sprint off the scrum specifically to shield the 10, and where a defensive system was built around keeping the fly-half out of contact.

That era is gone, he said, because nearly every attacking plan now targets the seam between backs and forwards, which is exactly where the 10 stands.

“You’ve got to be brave.”

He was clear he was never trying to dominate anyone physically. His own approach was accuracy and going low, learned as the smallest player in his junior teams. He said he was not about to put a shot on a Springboks forward, because he would likely break a shoulder doing it, and that the job was simply to get the man down and let the flankers and midfielders work over the ball.

Dan CarterAbout those numbers

Carter’s figures are a former player’s recollection rather than a record, and they are worth stating carefully. Spies was listed at 1.94m and 116kg during his Bulls and Springboks career, so 120kg is close.

The sprint number is looser. There is no officially timed 100m for Spies, and the figure that has circulated for years in South Africa is quicker than Carter’s, around 10.7 seconds. Either way, the point stands: a man that size moving at that speed was not something a fly-half was built to absorb.

Spies played Test rugby for South Africa between 2006 and 2013, missed the 2007 World Cup after blood clots were found in his lungs, and was a central figure in the Springboks’ 2009 series win over the British and Irish Lions before finishing his career in France.

Carter was speaking on the For The Love Of Rugby: South Africa podcast.