HE’D love to be tugging on the Wallaby gold again come June but Sam Carter’s first priority is to get his Brumbies jersey back.
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The Quirindi product missed the latter part of the Super Rugby season after tearing the medial ligament and picking up a small fracture in his right knee.
It ruled him out of action for 12 weeks and curtailed his World Cup aspirations, his lack of football seeing him overlooked for the initial 31-man squad.
He did end up being part of the Wallabies campaign after being seconded over to the UK to replace Will Skelton, but was consigned to the equivalent of 12th man duties.
He warmed up with the side but never actually got to play.
But the 26-year-old isn’t lamenting on what might have been, and is squarely focused on helping the Brumbies succeed in the new expanded competition, with a sixth team from South Africa and a team from Argentina and Japan joining the competition.
Personally he’s also got his Brumbies’ number five jersey to win back.
“I didn’t play the end of the season last year so my first goal is to get my jersey back and play that first game,” Carter said.
“Once I get back into the team I’m going to be doing everything I can to try and win them matches.”
He made his first appearance for the Brumbies since May against the Waratahs in Wagga last Saturday and said it was good to get a bit of a run in the legs after the hard work of the pre-season.
“I haven’t played in about six months so I was a bit nervous before the game but once you get out there it all comes back so it was a good hit-out,” he said after the match.
The game was played in four 20-minute quarters.
Carter played the “first half” and was one of the Brumbies’ best.
Typically, he was in everything, made some strong runs and was solid in defence.
He’ll get another chance to press his claims tonight when the Brumbies take on the Reds.
They came up just short against the Waratahs, the 2014 champions scoring twice in the last 10 minutes to snatch a four-point win.
Carter had to watch it unravel from the sidelines but, beneath the disappointment, said there were some things they could take into the Reds’ game.
“I think our defence in the first half was pretty good. Some of our systems were good but I think our general fitness across the board needs to improve and the boys just need to execute better in the final moments,” he said.
That finishing touch let them down a few times.
He said fitness had been a big focus in the pre-season.
“We identified that we want to be fitter,” he said.
“The last three of four years we’ve been in the finals and fallen short right at the end so definitely when it comes to that time we want to capitalise and make sure we make a difference and get over the line.”
They have also tweaked their attack a bit.
“We’ve changed up our attack shape this year just a little bit, not too much, but we’ve been working on that in the pre-season,” Carter said.
“We started to see bits of it tonight and hopefully over the next couple of weeks we can put it together and round one we’ll have that humming.”
And while his primary focus is the Brumbies, thoughts of the Wallabies aren’t too far away.
It’s “just a little bit down the track at the moment”.
“I’ll get my jersey back with the Brumbies and start playing well and then we’ll focus on getting that other jersey back I guess,” he said.