New Zealand rugby legend and all-round good guy, Dan Carter is our Hero of the Week on JOE this week.
By Adrian Collins
Although he regularly happens to be part of an All Blacks team that dishes out a few shellackings to the Irish team, we can’t help but like Dan Carter.
Apart from all the titles he has in his career (World Cup, Tri-nations, highest points scorer in test rugby) and also being twice named IRB player of the year, Dan Carter did two things this week that really made us sit up and take notice of what a decent bloke he is off the pitch too.
Firstly, after a great rugby trick shots video from Ireland’s own George Morgan went viral, Carter took the time to send him a tweet saying he was impressed, as well as posting a video praising the youngster for his silky skills.
Obviously that’s pretty cool, but no biggie, it’s Just Dan Carter, one of the best number 10s ever, sending you a video saying he’s impressed with your work.
He once again turned his eyes to our fair shores this week though when he got in contact with Donal Walsh, the brave young Kerry teen whose optimism has never wavered in his long-running battle with cancer.
At just 16-years-old, Donal is battling cancer for the third time in four years, but he’s never given up and refuses to think anything but positively about his situation. For this, Dan had some great words for him in a voicemail (although he had tried calling, he didn’t get through), which clearly meant a lot to the teen.
He was even sound enough to give us a shout out on Twitter yesterday, although he couldn’t help but rub it in a little bit that his team beats us at rugby football nearly half the time.
Overall, Carter has shot up a good bit in our estimations this week, and the next time Ireland take on New Zealand we’ll have a new found level of respect for him. So long as he doesn’t play too well….
If you want to be a big a hero as Dan Carter, you could try winning the World Cup, or, an even better idea is to be the first Irishman in space. Head over to LynxApollo.ie and sign up to see if you’ve got what it takes to leave a man, and come back a hero.
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