No regrets: Racing 92 defend selection of injured Dan Carter after Euro loss to Saracens

Beaten finalists Racing 92 have “no regrets” over the selection of Dan Carter for the European Rugby Champions Cup final despite the former All Blacks legend nursing an injury, forwards coach Laurent Travers said this week.

Carter lasted only 43 minutes of the French club’s 21-9 defeat by Saracens from England before limping off with a calf injury he had initially sustained in the semi-final round.

The 34-year-old admitted after the game that he was left to make the call on his own fitness during the warm-up for last Saturday’s final at Lyon’s shiny new Parc Olympique Lyonnais stadium.

But Travers on Thursday defended the decision to start Test rugby’s highest points scorer.

“It makes me laugh because at the end of the match I think there were 60,000 coaches in the stadium including 59,997 – not Ronan [O’Gara], Laurent [Labit] and me – who were saying we shouldn’t have played Dan Carter,” Travers said.

“At the end of the match, it’s much easier [to say] what’s the right thing to do. If we hadn’t played him and lost, those same people would have said ‘Dan Carter at 40 per cent would have helped you win’.