Dan Carter has opened up in his autobiography about the worries he faced going into the Rugby World Cup semifinal against the Springboks last month.
The legendary first-five said he was aware of a slight niggle in his right knee during the thumping quarterfinal victory over France, but thought it would "be right in the morning".
However the 33-year-old woke the next day unable to walk comfortably, and the pain did not go away for a few days.
"Monday was as bad, if not worse [than the day after the quarterfinal]. By Tuesday I thought I wasn't going to play the semi," he wrote.
"I caught up with the team's medical staff, and they realised I'd tweaked my MCL [medial collateral ligament]. I was given a cortisone injection, and didn't train at all on Monday or Tuesday.
Carter said it wasn't until just two days before the semifinal against the Springboks that he realised he may well recover in time for the game.
"After my morning run I decided to get a local anaesthetic in my knee, just to take the pain away. That allowed me to – finally – get in a good, hard training session, which was a huge confidence booster," he wrote.
Carter, who joins his new rugby club side Racing 92 in Paris next week, helped the All Blacks beat the Springboks before starring in the World Cup final against the Wallabies, completing his elusive dream of lifting the Webb-Ellis Cup.
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