FRENCH TOP 14:DAN CARTER will liaise with New Zealand's medical staff to ascertain whether he requires surgery on the Achilles' tendon injury that has ended not only his season but also his time in France with Perpignan.

The All Blacks outhalf has been ruled out for around six months after rupturing an Achilles’ in the final seconds of Saturday’s 13-13 draw against Stade Francais in Paris.

With his seven-month stint with the Catalans ending in June, his European sabbatical is over after just five games.

The All Blacks’ medical team will run the rule over Carter’s recovery and will hope to get him back fit for July, when the Tri-Nations begins.

“Daniel Carter will continue with talks in collaboration with the All Blacks’ medical staff this week to establish if the injury requires surgical intervention or not,” read a Perpignan statement.

The post mortem has already begun regarding the injury. The match against Stade was Carter’s first for three weeks, as he had been sidelined with a similar complaint for most of January. Having played just five matches in two months, Perpignan would have wanted to get their money’s worth from Carter, who is believed to be earning around €700,000 from his half-year in France.

But Perpignan president Paul Goze insists Carter was not rushed back to action for the showpiece at the Stade de France, played in front of close to 80,000 spectators. “I said to them if it (his Achilles’) hurt, it wasn’t imperative he played, even if it was against Paris (Stade Francais),” Goze said. “At half-time, we again asked him and he replied that it didn’t hurt.”

Carter delivered at the weekend his finest performance for Perpignan, seeing off Juan Martin Hernandez in a duel between the world’s two best outhalves, although it was the Argentinian’s tackle that caused the recurrence of Carter’s problem.

The New Zealand Rugby Union, meanwhile, have vowed to support Carter throughout his rehabilitation.