All Blacks: Imperfect 10 classy enough to claim test record

Dan Carter tries to evade the clutches of England centre Dan Hipkiss at Twickenham. Photo / AP

SuperDan showed he was a mere mortal, but by the fulltime whistle at Twickenham normal transmission had resumed for the All Blacks' record-breaking test rugby pointscorer.

Dan Carter's 14 points - four penalties and a sideline conversion of Jimmy Cowan's try - saw him top Andrew Mehrtens' record of 967 points as the All Blacks beat England 19-6.

The star pivot took five fewer tests (65) than Mehrtens to reach the mark, and by test's end Carter was well on the way to four figures as he sat on 980.

"It's a great feeling, I'm very proud. It's something I'll look back on at the end of my career more so and be very happy with it," he said. "To overtake a good mate like Mehrts is something I'm pretty happy with."

But there were a few speed wobbles.

Carter missed his first penalty attempt from in front, and kicked five from seven in all. Going into the test he'd kicked 13 from 13 in Tokyo and Cardiff, before his one-match high tackle suspension.

When he punted a ball dead from a penalty, trying to earn an attacking lineout, All Blacks fans were rubbing their eyes. But he was still a threat with ball in hand, and defended superbly, summed up by his trysaving tackle on England bench forward Tom Croft in the 73rd minute.

Said coach Graham Henry: "We're used to perfection, aren't we? When he misses a couple of goals it's not perfection for him, so he'll be disappointed in that."

Carter acknowledged his record-breaking feats came with a fair dose of frustration.

"It was pretty frustrating with ball in hand, things weren't gelling as well as we would have liked. Missing a couple of easy kicks is never much fun.

"But you take the good things with the bad and I was extremely happy with my defensive game tonight, not only myself but the team, we really got off the line well and that's what set us up."

Meanwhile, fullback Mils Muliaina celebrated another milestone as he joined Justin Marshall on 81 test caps, behind only Sean Fitzpatrick's 92 on the New Zealand list.

Muliaina said he was proud to move up the rankings as he eyes being the first to 100 tests, with captain Richie McCaw just two behind him.

But the fullback was kicking himself for missing a first-half try on the television match official's call when he slid into touch. "Yeah, a little bit gutted, I didn't quite back myself."

MOST ALL BLACKS TESTS

*92 - Sean Fitzpatrick (1986-97)

*81 - MILS MULIAINA (2003-present), Justin Marshall (1995-2005)

*79 - RICHIE McCAW (2001-present), Ian Jones (1989-99)

*74 - Tana Umaga (1997-2005)

*71 - Keven Mealamu (2002-present)

*70 - Andrew Mehrtens (1995-2004)

MOST ALL BLACKS TEST POINTS

*DANIEL CARTER - 980 (65 tests, 25 tries, 165 conversions, 173 penalties, 2 dropped goals)

*Andrew Mehrtens - 967 (70 tests, 7 tries, 169 con, 188 pen, 10 dg)

*Grant Fox - 645 (46 tests, 1 try, 118 con, 128 pen, 7 dg)

*Carlos Spencer - 291 (35 tests, 14 tries, 49 con, 41 pen)

*Doug Howlett - 245 (62 tests, 49 tries)

*Christian Cullen - 236 (58 tests, 46 tries, 3 con)

*Jeff Wilson - 234 (60 tests, 44 tries, 1 con, 3 pen, 1 dg)

- NZPA