Dan Carter insists he did not know that another three points against Ireland on Saturday would have made him the highest scorer in Test history.
Fly-half plays down spat with McCaw over penalty
Dan Carter insists he did not know that another three points against Ireland on Saturday would have made him the highest scorer in Test history.
The New Zealand fly-half kicked 18 points to take him within a whisker of Jonny Wilkinson's record of 1178, but four times in the second half skipper Richie McCaw opted for a scrum rather than giving Carter another shot at goal.
Carter was seen to remonstrate with McCaw but must now wait until the All Blacks face Wales on Saturday - against whom Carter made his international debut eight years ago - to attempt the record.
"I didn't know how many points I needed, I just wanted to take the kick. When I found out afterwards I gave Richie some stick about it!" said Carter.
"I hadn't thought about doing it in Wales but it would be pretty cool to achieve hit against the side where it all started.
"But the team comes first. Personal milestones are nice and it's good to be proud of them, but that's not what drives me.
"If I get a couple of goals next week that would be good."
Pressure
By contrast, McCaw believed Carter knew exactly what another successful penalty would have meant at the Aviva Stadium, although he says he did not purposely deny him a place in the history books.
"Dan obviously knew how many points he was on because I had no idea, I wasn't thinking like that," said McCaw.
"He said to me afterwards, 'Jeez, if you'd given me that I would have got the record'.
"I thought, 'Oh well, next week!'. Had I known I don't know if I'd done it any differently. The difference between a 15 and 18-point lead isn't much, so I thought we'd put the pressure on.
"But now I understand why he was asking for the shot at goal!"
