The 28-year-old arrived in Dunedin a decade ago as a promising loose forward.
He had been involved in the Hawke’s Bay Academy before being picked for the Otago under-19 team and playing for the Southern premiers.
Then he got caught up in socialising — to put it politely.
After graduating from university he ran into a mental health battle after beginning life as a school teacher.
His rugby has cruised and it looked as though his time had gone.
But he was one of five New Zealanders given another crack.
He is representing the Highlanders region on Three’s 2degrees 2nd Chance Charlie television show.
The show is taking New Zealand rugby players who slipped through the cracks and giving them a second chance at stardom.
They are assigned a Super Rugby team to train with.
The prize for the winner is a three-month personalised training, mentoring and development programme designed by the player’s Super Rugby club plus $15,000.
It was an opportunity that "seemed to good to be true", Carpenter said.
Getting to train with the Highlanders and having access to all their resources had been "pretty awesome".
He admitted to having some regrets about how his rugby career petered out — "If I’m perfectly honest it didn’t slip through the cracks, I let it go.
"I was in the Hawke’s Bay academy and stuff coming through. I was told to hang around Hawke’s Bay and play club rugby with the academy."
There was the feeling there "might be a profession there, not a guarantee, but a ‘we’ll look after you’.
"That was the first thing I walked away from. That was because I wanted to go to uni."
Carpenter spent five years in Dunedin and completed a double degree in Maori studies and management.
He then decided to do a master’s in teaching.
While in Dunedin he transformed from a wiry and zippy flanker to a confrontational No 8.
Socialising and drinking became a bigger focus, though, and that affected his rugby.
However, at the end of 2015 he returned home and began teaching.
Now working at Te Aute College, he lives in Pukehou with his fiancee, Baylee, and 2-year-old daughter Tuawhiorangi.
He plays No 8 for the Otane Sports Club, although admitted he had lost his focus on being the best he could.
Work had played a big part in that and it was the moment he stood in front of his class to teach them for the first time his mental health issues became prominent.
He battled alone for two years, before reaching rock bottom.
At that point he sought help and worked his way back into what he described now as the best place he had been in his life.
A passionate te reo Maori speaker, he now enjoyed building relationships with the children he taught, he said.
Much of that came outside the classroom and he was heavily involved in Te Aute’s sporting activities.
Perhaps that is reflected in his pupils’ support of his efforts for the show. He completed his final fitness test at the school last week and plenty of pupils turned out to watch.
The show screens at 9.30pm on Thursdays.
