La Rochelle - France's minor premiers last season - celebrated a 16-9 home win over Racing 92 in a seventh round match on Sunday.
Carter has not played for three weeks and his absence prompted L'Equipe newspaper rugby writer Richard Escot to speculate that Racing were "undoubtedly preserving" Carter and former Springbok Patrick Lambie for upcoming European Cup matches against the Leicester Tigers and Irish province Munster.
Maxime Machenaud, who replaced Carter at first five-eighths, scored all Racing's points with three penalties to ensure a defensive bonus point.
