International career
In June 2003, Carter made his All Blacks debut at age 21 in Hamilton, New Zealand, scoring 20 points against Wales. He was then capped against France in Christchurch, which the All Blacks won 31–23. He was also a substitute in a match against Australia (the Wallabies) in Sydney, which the All Blacks won 50–21. Carter was then included in New Zealand's 2003 Rugby World Cup squad, where he first gained serious international attention. Carter spent much of the later stages of the tournament on the bench leaving New Zealand without a specialist goal-kicker. However, he did play in the games against Italy in Melbourne, which the All Blacks won 70–7, and the wins over Canada and Tonga. Although he has been an All Black since 2003 he only secured a permanent position as the first five-eighth in the team during the 2004 tour to the United Kingdom and France displacing Carlos Spencer. He had been playing as a second five-eighths up until the end of the 2004 Tri-Nations.
In 2005, Carter starred in the All Blacks 48–18 win over the British & Irish Lions. He scored two tries, five penalties, and four conversions. He ended the match with 33 points, passing the previous All Blacks record of 18 points in a Lions Test (Carter's second-half total of 22 points by itself was sufficient to top this). The performance was later described by The Guardian as "the definitive fly-half display of the modern era".
Carter was named IRB Player of the Year in 2005, becoming the first New Zealander to win the award.
On 27 November 2010, after scoring a halfway penalty against Wales, Carter became the highest point scorer of all time, overtaking England's Jonny Wilkinson's previous record of 1,178 although Wilkinson took the record back on 26 February 2011 against France. Carter reclaimed the record on 30 July 2011 when he advanced to 1,204 points in the first tri-nations match of the 2011 series against South Africa. He has currently scored a total of 1,598 test points (29 tries, 293 conversions, 281 penalties, and 8 drop goals) in 112 tests, with an average of 14.27 points a game (the highest average for players who have scored more than 500 Test points). Along with Richie McCaw Carter earns 750,000 NZD a year being the joint highest paid player in New Zealand. This high paying contract by the New Zealand Rugby Union is not subject to form or fitness as both players are regarded as integral to the All Blacks 2011 Rugby World Cup plans. It was announced on 1 October that Carter would captain the All Blacks for the first time against Canada. However, it was later announced that Carter would miss the rest of the 2011 Rugby World Cup after tearing a groin tendon during the final training session before the match against Canada. Carter has signed a contract to re-sign with the NZRU until 2015.
Carter was named IRB Player of the Year in 2012, but eyebrows were raised when he missed out being named in the shortlist for New Zealand Player of the Year.
On 16 November 2013, Carter became the fifth All Black to play 100 caps when New Zealand defeated England by 30–22 at Twickenham on their end of year tour.
On 17 July 2015, Carter and Richie McCaw played their final match in Christchurch together, after Carter took a deal to play for Racing Metro in France. On 15 August 2015 Carter played his final test in New Zealand in the Bledisloe Cup decider at Eden Park, a trophy he has never lost since his debut. He later appeared with McCaw in a Men In Black themed safety video for Air New Zealand.
In the 2015 Rugby World Cup final against Australia, Carter scored four penalties, converted two tries (with the final one taken with his right boot), and kicked a drop goal that gave the All Blacks the winning moment. Due to the performance, he was named the Man of the Match. Following the All Blacks' victory, he received the IRB Player of the Year award for the third time.
