In the pantheon of all-time great Rugby players, former All Blacks flyhalf Dan Carter is up there with the best of them.
Arguably the greatest player to ever grace lace them up, Carter was instrumental in breaking the All Blacks World Cup hoodoo.
Although his 2011 World Cup campaign was cut short, Carter would return four years later as a dominant force as the All Blacks swept all before them at the 2015 tournament.
As possibly the most naturally gifted playmaker of his era, when Carter speaks about flyhalves, people listen.
Thus, his recent revelation of who he views as the top number tens in the game today has caught the attention of Rugby fans the world over.
Speaking to sports news site SportsJoe, Carter revealed who he felt were the four best flyhalves in the world.
He lists injured French star Romain Ntamack, who Carter felt for given his brutally unfortunate injury, which will keep him out of his team’s home World Cup. The All Black legend was keen to stress that he didn’t rate Ntamack first but rather that he came to mind first due to his injury.
Carter would then go on to list Springbok World Cup winner Handre Pollard, who at the time of writing is not in South Africa’s squad but is someone many feel will feature at the tournament.
Completing his list, Carter would list Irish captain Jonathan Sexton and Richie Mo’unga as the two other players in his top four.
Labelling Sexton as an “influential” player, Carter was effusive in his praise of the Leinster stalwart whilst also finding time to poke some fun at his friend.
"The way that he's evolved his game, it's similar to myself. You know he’s not gonna be scoring tries, and he'll probably send me a message joking about this. He's not gonna be tries from 50 metres out, you know, beating five or six defenders to score the match-winning try. But his ability to control the game and influence the game has been huge for Ireland over the last few years, and the big reason why they've been so successful because of his game management and the way he directs the team around the field. He’s such a pivotal, influential player.
"So hopefully, you know, he can find some form and get back from his injury and the setbacks that he's had recently because he's a big part of that squad," Carter said of Sexton.
Speaking about his countryman Mo’unga, Carter said the Crusaders star “can light it up” before delving deeper into his analysis, saying: "We just need the All Black forward pack to really be dominant. If you can give him good go-forward ball, he can rip any team up at any time. His combination with Beauden Barrett is a really important one in terms of the game plan that they're trying to play. If you give him some front-foot ball, his skill set can turn any team around."
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