This Thursday, in the evening in France, Dan Carter will begin a new and unusual challenge.
On the lawn of Eden Park in Auckland, the double world champion will attempt 1,598 kicks in twenty-four hours.
Why 1.598?
Because that's the number of points scored by the former Perpignan and Racing 92 opener in the All Blacks jersey.
This "kickathon" - it is so called among the Anglo-Saxons - aims to raise funds for Unicef in order to clean the water used every day by 134,000 children from the Vanuatu Islands, the Solomon Islands or of Kiribati.
Read alsoThe enigmatic message of Dan Carter: "I'm preparing a little return to the field"
Concretely, Dan Carter explained to Rugbyrama how he was going to proceed.
“
For 24 hours, from Thursday morning to Friday morning, without a single minute of sleep, I will have to hit and land 1598 kicks.
Which is roughly 66 kicks per hour.
I will hit from the 22 meter line, in front of the posts, just to maximize my energy.
Over the 24 hours, I will also use both feet to hold on as long as possible
, ”says the left-hander.
"
A perfect opportunity to see what I still have in my stomach
"
A challenge that he apprehends, at 39, with a certain jubilation.
“
This has never been done before.
But hey… When I ended my career, what I missed the most was being able to test my limits.
There, I have a perfect opportunity to see what I still have in my stomach
, "smiles the former star who admits"
training like crazy for seven months, with a physical trainer and a nutritionist
".
During these 24 hours, he will eat “
a light meal of 300 calories every three hours
”.
To help him in his somewhat crazy bet, he will be live, during the night for him, with some of the best European openers.
“
I will call Finn Russell in Paris, Romain Ntamack in Toulouse, Johnny Sexton in Dublin, Ronan O'Gara in La Rochelle or Marcus Smith in London.
They will also hit a few shots on goal.
They will actually help me survive...
” A performance to follow live on his website (https://dancarter.com/kickathon).
On which spectators can donate funds to help underprivileged children in the Pacific.