Sunday 15 May 2016 16:57, UK
Dan Carter admitted that his gamble on a lingering calf injury had backfired after Racing 92 saw their European aspiration go up in smoke as Saracens claimed the Champions Cup with a 21-9 victory.
Carter sustained the injury in the Cup semi-final and had been rested ahead of the showpiece finale of continental club rugby union in the northern hemisphere.
The 34-year-old All Black legend was left to make the call on his own fitness during the warm-up for Saturday's game at Lyon's Grand Stade.
"I hadn't trained with the team a lot in the past three weeks," said Carter, Test rugby's highest points scorer (1,598) after his 112 matches for the All Blacks.
"I was able to run freely in the warm-up. It was just before half-time that it really started to tighten up. I made the sensible option I was of no help to the team at that stage, hence I decided to come off."
Carter added: "We left it until the last minute, just do the warm-up and then see how it went, it wasn't getting any worse during the warm-up and that gave me confidence to get out there and throughout the first 30 minutes it wasn't getting any worse.
"I don't think it's anything serious, a couple of weeks. I'll sit down on Monday with the medical team and make a plan, and do the appropriate tests to see what it is.
"It was a big game and you want to give yourself every opportunity to play... to play in a final means a lot, for myself and this team.
"I was confident I could play and that's why I started but it unfortunately didn't last as long as I would have liked."
Carter, who passed on goal-kicking duties from the off, appeared to struggle with the pace of the game and twice took an eternity to get back to his feet after two strong tackles from Brad Barritt and Owen Farrell.
But he admitted that the better side had won, heaping praise on England counterpart Farrell.
"Saracens put us under a lot of pressure and we weren't able to get our game going," Carter said.
"They took away our time and space, not helped by the greasy conditions. We had high hopes going into the game, the team has been playing well in the competition, but we met our match in Saracens tonight, they really outplayed us.
"We thought that if we could stay close to them on the scoresheet we could give ourselves a chance, but when Owen got those penalties at the end, we realised the game was slipping away from us."
Carter added of Farrell: "He played well. Saracens have had a tough four years in the European Cup and after getting so close over three, four years, they deserve it tonight and he led the way for them.
"Strategically, Farrell put them at the right end of the field and kicked those goals which plays an important part of finals footy."
