KEY POINTS:
Throughout his stellar career Daniel Carter has delivered.
He changed from a wiry halfback at high school to a midfield back for his province and the All Blacks before becoming the team's goalkicking general in the famous No 10 jersey.
He plays his 55th test tomorrow in
Hong Kong about a month before he farewells the team for the Perpignan club.
He visited the French club recently and it would be easy for him to dwell on that approaching sortie as much as the All Blacks Grand Slam target.
But Carter, who shows as much phlegmatic calm off the track as he does in his working gear, was adamant he would continue to have a strong balance in his life and would be giving the next weeks his most serious attention.
The only time he was slightly ruffled was when he was quizzed about the arrangement which removed him from all domestic rugby after the Bledisloe Cup in Brisbane in September.
There was, for him, a bit of a waffly response about some deal with Canterbury which ended with Carter saying he was happy with the outcome.
No doubt he was but Canterbury coach Rob Penney was not so enamoured with the idea while national coach Graham Henry knew Carter needed to play a trial game in Auckland at least to get into some sync for this tour.
Carter skipped around those issues and then with the optimism carried by young men, declared that in using Colin Slade, his province had made the find of the tournament. Touche.
The All Black question now will be whether in Stephen Donald they make the first five eighths discovery of this expedition. He gets his first test start tomorrow against the Wallabies with Carter alongside him as a midfielder, second pivot and adviser.
But Carter emphasised that he wants to button off on the commands, this is Donald's test to run and he is content to complement those decisions.
"It quite surreal actually, it is where I played a lot of my football for a couple of seasons professionally so it is a new challenge for us because it has been so long," he said.
Carter then lobbed in the company line about how Donald came on for the last part of the Brisbane triumph, made a difference and deserved his chance to start a test. He accepted if there was a call for him to crash the ball up, he would not be overcalling the move.
"I have been working all week [on easing out of the command structure] because I am so used to calling the moves. I guess I will be wanting to give him feedback from setplays and I will have to pull back and let him run the ship because he is more than capable of doing that," Carter said.
He would assist Donald but more as a sounding board than a director.
Carter felt he was ready for the demands of an international of this magnitude and thought he had played enough rugby to cope with the intensity of this historic Hong Kong test.
"Obviously I have had a really good break and I'm ready to go. I'm fresh and I guess it is similar to me having a really good off-season.
"I guess they are in the same boat, the Aussie team, they have had a few camps. But I had a good hit out last week against the Baabaas and I've done a lot of work on fitness and the physical side of things in the last three to four weeks so I am in good shape and ready to play test match rugby."
That schedule has about a month to run and the 26-year-old said he prided himself in keeping a good balance and focus in his life. It was all part of being professional about his busy commercial, sporting and personal interests.
"I am going to give this team 100 per cent focus and I am not going to worry about the Perpignan side of things until after the last game," he said.
Interest in his switch would undoubtedly gather pace as the tour went on but he was intent on making this trip as memorable as many others.
He was looking forward to that next chapter of his life. For now though, he wanted to make the future all black for the Wallabies.
