Hook has stern warning for Carter
Wed, 08 Oct 2008 09:27
Welsh flyhalf James Hook says Dan Carter could find life a lot harder than anything else he has experienced before when he finally gets his chance for Perpignan in the Heineken Cup.
Hook and his Ospreys team have made little secret about their ambitions to win Europe’s biggest trophy this season and the 23 year-old says the standard of play in the competition will be something, the likes of which, Carter will not have seen before.
The New Zealand No. 10 will miss the first two round of the competition as he remains with the All Black squad for their upcoming year-end tour but should be well settled in France in time to line up against Hook when Ospreys travel to the Stade Aime Giral next January.
Clearly confident in his, and his teams ability heading in to the new European season Hook has suggested that Carter my not be able to have the same influence on games he has had in recent times with the Crusaders and New Zealand national team. Hook, a dalring of Welsh rugby, also took the opportunity to inform the world biggest star that he will almost certainly have a target on his back as soon as he steps foot off the plane in France.
“The intensity in the big Heineken games is like a Test match, but he will have new Perpignan team-mates around him rather than All Blacks or Crusaders players he has played with for donkey’s years,” explained Hook in the latest edition of Rugby World..
“He will find there is much less space or margin for error than in the Super 14, and that every side he plays against will want a piece of him.”
