Dan Carter is arguably the greatest ever rugby player to grace the modern game. His playing position at number 10 is crucial to any team. The first five makes the big calls regarding decision making and orchestrates the rest of the back line. Some great first fives make a name for themselves around their passing, kicking, tackling or running, but Carter has made a name for himself on all of these things. He is the real deal, the complete professional package.
It wasn’t that long ago, when reviewing the newspapers about Dan Carter after a test match you would read how he strolled through the game with ease and however frenetic the action around him, Carter with his gentle rolling gait would simply ooze calmness and coolness and make the game look all to easy. Great champions have that knack.
After the 2011 World Cup, Carter hasn’t had the best off times with injuries and now we hear that bio-mechanically he hasn’t got a great running gait (straight from the All Black head coach Steve Hansen’s mouth) and this seems to add additional pressure on his joints and ligaments.
Let’s look at running gait. It can be broken down into two basic phases.
1. Stance phase – when your foot has contact with the ground (includes heel strike, mid-stance and toe-off).
2. Swing/Recovery Phase – when your foot is in the air (includes internal rotation and external rotation.
It’s important for these two basic phases to come together and produce an efficient motion while minimising the risk of injury. For more information on how to improve your own running gait and to get a full understanding of running biomechanics, please check out this online running course from Runners Connect.
Back to Dan Carter. Just how bad or ugly( Hansen’s word, not mine!) can his gait really be? After all, his body has managed to rack up 100 test matches for the All Blacks and even more top flight professional matches (124) playing Super Rugby for the Crusaders.
Looking at a few of his superb runs and tries online, I can see the swing phase of his gait is often rotated externally and maybe the odd strange looking heel strike, but all is forgiven if you take into account his ability to step defenders and read matches like he is always two minutes ahead of everyone else, which is why he looks like he has so much time before making decisions.
I guess the real question, is it too late to change his running gait to extend his career well beyond the 2015 World Cup. And that answer is no, it is never to late to continue to tweak and improve your running techniques. This answer applies to both rugby players and triathletes. Anything to help Dan to stay on the rugby pitch for longer can only be a great thing for rugby supporters all round. Sure he has plenty of young guns biting at his feet for that number 10 All Black spot, but in my book his composure and experience in the middle of a test match arena makes him my first choice every time.
To learn more about the basics and science behind each movement in the gait cycle to improve your own running technique, reduce injuries and beat Father Time, click on the Runners Connect course here.
