Dan Carter: All Blacks have 'proved a lot of people wrong'

Former New Zealand out-half Dan Carter says the All Blacks have "proved a lot of people wrong" in their run to the World Cup final.

Win or lose, Sunday's World Cup final against South Africa (Live on RTÉ2) will be the last competitive game for the coaching ticket led by Ian Foster, with former Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt an influential assistant.

Celebrated Crusaders' coach Scott Robertson is set to take over ahead of the new year. We'll discover at the weekend whether he'll be inheriting a World Cup-winning side.

Foster has been subject to much criticism throughout his reign, most notably after their rare series loss at home to Ireland in the summer of 2022.

Typically positioned as outright favourites ahead of most World Cups, New Zealand were just one of a quartet of likely winners at the outset this time, and they drifted in the reckoning following their decisive pool-stage loss to France on the opening night.

However, they regrouped across the pool stage and executed a perfect gameplan to take out Ireland in a tense quarter-final before briskly dismissing Argentina in the last-four.

Two-time World Cup winner Carter - who was at Elm Park in Dublin today as part of Golf Ireland's campaign to grow participation for golfers with a disability - said Foster's side had defied the critics.

"Before the tournament, I don't think many New Zealanders would have thought that the All Blacks would be here," Carter told RTÉ Sport's Michael Corcoran.

"But having worked with the team this year, I knew that they believed.

"They had faith in themselves. When you're in the spotlight and under a lot of public and media scrutiny, you can go one of two ways. You can believe what you're reading and hearing. Or you can galvanise and unite as a