All Blacks: Carter closing in on reclaiming 10 jersey

Daniel Carter. Photo / Getty Images

He's still not 100 per cent but hopes to be by Saturday and Daniel Carter is confident he will feature at some stage in Hong Kong.

The All Black coaches and four million others would prefer that he feature from the start, but even the supremely optimistic Carter was reluctant to say whether that was likely.

He managed 40 minutes in a full-contact hit out game at training yesterday and wasn't feeling any effects after. But his ankle is still puffy and he doesn't feel he is offering much in the way of speed and acceleration.

On the positive side, he says he's been making improvements from week to week and, with another six days before kick-off, he could just about see himself in the No10 jersey.

If he does, he knows where the challenges will lie.

"The conditioning," he says, "the game is very fast and today I was struggling to keep up. The lungs were blowing a bit. I'm a bit unfit at the moment and obviously the contact work, the speed and acceleration which I haven't been able to do a lot of work on in the last couple of months.

"It's about managing myself this week but once I get out there I have played enough games to know what to expect and what to do. You can do all the running and training you want but it's quite different to being out there playing."

Carter is one of those rare beasts, despite his uncertainty and caginess, who could slip into a test without having played for the last nine weeks.

He just about managed that last year when he missed eight months due to a ruptured Achilles, played one club game, two for Canterbury and then saved the All Blacks from defeat in Sydney.

His poise, composure and natural instincts are such that he can find his feet at the highest level with little or no preparation.

That ability is one the coaches will be sorely tempted to test as, despite the form shown by Stephen Donald in recent weeks, the All Blacks with Carter are an entirely different side than they are without him.

Even if he's not quite 100 per cent, lacking an explosive edge, they'd still rather have him out there - possibly for 60 minutes if that's all he can manage - in the hope he could have all but steered the All Blacks to victory by then.

Another factor behind wanting Carter out there is that the All Blacks are aware of the need to evolve tactically in the next five weeks.

Australia lost the last two tests more as a result of their own lack of belief and confidence than the All Blacks superiority.

"This game still means a lot to this team," says Carter.

"You always want to beat them and looking back to the Tri Nations we weren't as happy with the way we finished as we were with the way we started.

"We were extremely pleased with getting away with the results. We have great self-belief from getting through those games.

"But we also felt the Aussies and South Africans were really analysing the way we were playing and closing the gap. We want to get our tour off to a good start but realise it's going to be extremely tough the way the Wallabies were playing in the second half of the Tri Nations."