Dan Carter has broken his silence after being cleared of any wrongdoing by an independent French anti-doping agency.
Carter, along with former All Black teammate Joe Rokocoko as well as Argentinian winger Juan Imhoff returned a prohibited amount of corticosteroids in their urine tests prior to his club's Top 14 final against Toulon last year.
The 35-year-old told French paper Le Parisien whilst on a short family holiday in Tuscany that he had nothing to worry about because he had nothing to hide.
"I was not at all worried because at no time did I feel that I was breaking the rules in the fight against doping," Carter said.
Carter said at no time did he feel anything other than supported during the saga.
"My parents and my family were a huge help. But I also want to thank Sylvain Blanchard, the doctor of the club.
"In this case it was incredible and very reassuring that all the rules had been respected and that the medical treatment received was simply ordinary. President Jacky Lorenzetti has always been at my side, like the whole Racing family for that matter."
Carter, who is to be inducted into the Rugby Players' Association Hall of Fame next month, blamed French media for making his 'abnormal' urine tests out to be something it wasn't.
The playmaker said he was grateful that all three players had been completely cleared and hoped that they could just move on from the situation.
"It was quite incomprehensible to be accused of having circumvented the rules and at the same time finding that confidential information related to my health was disclosed in the public sphere.
"Especially since the international media subsequently misinterpreted the information in French and declared that I had been tested positive for steroids. But I always knew that I had nothing to reproach myself with."
It hasn't been an easy six months for Carter, with the surfacing of an abnormal urine test coinciding with a dip in form on the field.
He then hit international headlines again after being caught drink-driving in Paris in February.
Newshub.
