All Blacks Anxious As Carter Mulls Over Move to Europe

New Zealand are resigned to losing their fly-half Daniel Carter to a club in Europe at the end of the year and are considering giving him a sabbatical. It would mean he would spend 18 months abroad but remain on a central contract, ensuring he would feature in the 2011 World Cup.

The 26-year old's contract with the New Zealand Rugby Union runs out at the end of the year and he is attracting considerable interest from Europe, not least Stade Français, the richest club in France. England would also be a potential destination, with Leicester already linked with the fly-half's deputy in the All Blacks team, Nick Evans.

Reports in New Zealand yesterday suggested that Carter, who despite a quiet World Cup is still widely regarded as the leading fly-half in the world, is mulling over offers worth £500,000 a year, a figure the NZRU could not hope to match. The NZRU hopes that allowing Carter some time away would persuade Evans, who has attracted interest from France and Ireland as well as England, to remain at home, but its lack of financial muscle is forcing it to look at alternative ways of resisting the lure of Europe.

"The Union has a think-tank looking at ways to keep players but the issue is much deeper than that," said the All Blacks' assistant coach Wayne Smith, a former director of rugby at Northampton. "We need to ask what we want the All Blacks to be. Longer term, do we want them to be an iconic team?"

The NZRU has tried, so far in vain, to persuade its government to adopt a scheme used in Ireland which gives professional sportsmen and women massive tax rebates if they remain in the country. "I don't want to dramatize things but I'm not sure this country understands how big this issue is and how complex it is," said Smith. "The players are being offered huge amounts of money to go overseas where they will be able to spend more time with their families and gain that overseas experience which is very different. We have to find strategies to help them do what they love. We are working on solutions and a lot of the feedback we have had has been really positive."

The flanker Jerry Collins is another player who is considering remaining in Europe after the All Blacks' grand slam tour in November. The likes of Luke McAlister, Carl Hayman, Chris Jack, Aaron Mauger and Byron Kelleher made the move after last year's World Cup.

The Harlequins coach Andy Friend will leave the club at the end of the Premiership season to join the Canberra-based Brumbies. Friend has been at Quins since the summer of 2005 after stints with the Japanese club Suntory and an advisory role with Australia during the 2002 Tri-Nations Series and 2003 World Cup. He was also assistant coach for the Wallabies side that finished runners-up to South Africa in the 2005 Under-21 World Championships.

The former ACT full-back said: "The Brumbies are one of the great teams of world rugby and to be given the opportunity to be head coach is a great honor. It's a tremendous responsibility. My commitment to our many fans in Australia and around the world is to build on the strong foundations laid by Laurie Fisher and to ensure the Brumbies continue to play attacking, successful rugby."

Quins' chief executive, Mark Evans, added: "After all the tremendous work Andy has done for Harlequins I am pleased to see him being offered the position of head coach of a Super-14 team. I hope that we can send him on his way with a Premiership play-off spot at the end of this campaign."

Phil Christophers, the former England wing, has agreed a new deal at Castres, keeping him at the French club for a further two years. The 27-year-old's contract at the club from the Tarn region of France was due to expire at the end of the season but he will now stay until the summer of 2010. Christophers, who started out at Bristol, joined Castres from Leeds in 2005.