PARIS – Double World Cup winner Dan Carter will not rejoin French club Racing 92 due to medical reasons, the club announced on Saturday.
Carter, 36, who starred for the French giants between 2015-2018, has been deemed ineligible to play in France by the French National League after his former outfit referred his medical results to the organisation who run the Top 14 competition.
“Racing 92 handed over certain elements of his medical dossier to the experts designated by the French National League. Their opinion was unanimous: Dan Carter can’t play rugby in France,” said a statement.
The former Top 14 champions said last month Carter would return as cover for ex-South Africa fly-half Pat Lambie who announced his immediate retirement in January due to numerous concussions.
During his previous three-year stint in the French capital, Carter won the league title but was a runner-up in two European Champions Cup finals. He scored 445 points in 58 games.
Before that, he won New Zealand’s provincial competition with Canterbury and Super Rugby with the franchise the Crusaders.
On the international front, he twice lifted the World Cup, the Tri Nations and The Rugby Championship as well as a British and Irish Lions Test series with the All Blacks.
Carter’s last spell in France was tarnished on two occasions.
He tested positive for anti-inflammatory drug corticosteroids in 2016 but was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing in April 2017.
In the same year, he was caught driving while two-times over the legal alcohol limit by French police.
AFP