Racing coach defends Carter selection

The All Black legend nursed an injury in the build-up and during the match.

Carter only lasted 43 minutes of Racing's 9-21 defeat by Saracens before limping off with a calf injury he had initially sustained in the semifinal.

The 34-year-old admitted after the game that he was left to make the call on his own fitness during the warm-up for Saturday's Final at Lyon's Grand Stade.

"It makes me laugh because at the end of the match I think there were 60,000 coaches in the stadium including 59,997 – not Ronan [O'Gara], Laurent [Labit] and me – who were saying we shouldn't have played Dan Carter," Racing forwards coach Laurent Travers said of Test rugby's highest points scorer.

"At the end of the match, it's much easier [to say what's the right thing to do].

"If we hadn't played him and lost, those same people would have said 'Dan Carter, at 40 percent, would have helped you win'.

"So we have no regrets. We take complete responsibility for the choices that were made and if we had to make them again we'd do the same thing."

Travers added: "We don't take decisions like a lottery. There was a discussion between the sporting and medical staff, the player… and the decision was taken to include him on the team sheet."

Agence France-Presse