Dan Carter has warned the All Blacks that they should not treat France fly-half Morgan Parra lightly ahead of Sunday’s World Cup final at Eden Park.
Marc Lièvremont was widely ridiculed for switching the Clermont scrum-half to the unfamiliar ten jersey when France and New Zealand met in the pool stages.
Parra had not played at fly-half for more than two years but after impressive performances off the bench in France’s opening two games, he was given the job over the mis-firing François Trinh-Duc.
Parra has kept the fly-half job ahead of his Montpellier rival, and produced his best performance yet in the semi-final win over Wales, making two searing breaks, kicking three from three and finishing as France’s third top tackler, making ten and missing none despite the bombardments of Jamie Roberts and George North.
And with Parra recovered from a neck injury which limited his training at the start of the week, Carter has urged the All Blacks to be aware of the threat he poses.
“He’s a fantastic player,” said Carter who made his final appearance of the tournament in the 37-17 pool victory over Les Bleus before a groin injury ruled him out of the remainder of the tournament.
“He is doing really well at fly-half. Despite his small size he’s very brave and he really isn’t a weakness in the French side. Quite the opposite.”
Carter also highlighted the power of the French front row and the challenge that they will offer to the Kiwi set-piece which has performed impressively so far.
He added: “The French front row is world class. All three players [Jean-Baptiste Poux, William Servat and Nicolas Mas] are very strong in the scrums but also good with ball in hand.”
