 Carter saw his seven-month spell in France get off to a winning start
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Dan Carter saw his Perpignan career get off to a "great start" as the French side marked the fly-half's debut with a 26-20 Heineken Cup win over Leicester.
"I'm pleased to have got the first game out of the way," said New Zealand number 10 Carter, who kicked 16 points.
"I was very pleased that our combinations worked well, though I was disappointed to miss two kicks.
"To have come and beat a team of the quality of Leicester in my first game in Europe was a great start."
Carter has joined Perpignan on a seven-month sabbatical from New Zealand, and will return at the end of the northern hemisphere season to begin his preparations for the 2011 World Cup.
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It was a very close game and there were a couple of decisions here and fumbles there which could easily have made the difference
Leicester centre Dan Hipkiss
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"The game was very similar to what I am used to in Super 14 - the standard was just as high," he added.
"I thought the conditions were much wetter than normal for me, so it was pretty slippery out there."
Carter was dangerously upended by Leicester's England scrum-half Harry Ellis late on and admitted the incident was "a bit scary".
"You have no control over how you're going to land. I was relieved not to be injured," he said.
Leicester travel home with a losing bonus point that leaves them second to the Ospreys on points difference.
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606: DEBATE
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Centre Dan Hipkiss said: "It was a very close game and there were a couple of decisions here and fumbles there which could easily have made the difference.
"It would have been easy for us to roll over in this game and let Perpignan score four tries, but we're not too far away from getting the results in Europe and we came away with a narrow defeat and a bonus point.
"These are the games you learn from, especially for the younger players. It was a great experience for all of us."
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