Dan Carter reveals he almost lined out for Ireland

Dan Carter could have been the Jack Grealish of the rugby world.

The outhalf, who has an autobiography currently out, appears to have tonnes of juicy stories that will entice readers who might shell out for the hardback. One of those golden tales details how he may have ended up playing NFL instead of rugby a few years ago, while a story about how he may not have become an All-Black legend at all has piqued our interest. The 33-year-old has revealed that if things were different, he may very well have played for the green of Ireland, rather than his native country. And it's all down to some undisclosed Irish blood on his father's side. The flyhalf took up his first professional contract with Canterbury in his early 20's, but at the time of signing the deal, he was also approached by an unknown Irish province to try his hand at rugby over here,

"Along with the Canterbury contract, I was also offered a deal to play semi-professionally in Ireland." "A friend of Dad's was working over there, and had found some Irish blood which allowed me to turn out for them. Luckily the Canterbury deal was a little closer to home, otherwise who knows what colour jersey I'd have ended up wearing?"

We wonder what Ronan O'Gara would have made training and competing with the man he'll now be coaching at Racing Metro.