By CHRIS RATTUE
2nd five-eighth/ 1st five-eighth
Age: 21
Height: 1.80m
Weight: 91kg
NPC team: Canterbury
Super 12: Crusaders
Super 12 games: 13
Test debut: 2003
Test caps: 3
Dan's time, or down time.
Rising Canterbury star Daniel Carter could be a World Cup star in the making, but then again he is more likely to have the odd cameo, and
even be relegated to the cast of extras.
Carter is the wunderkind waiting in the wings, the latest off the Canterbury production line of inside backs.
If injury strikes Carlos Spencer or Aaron Mauger then Carter will be thrust into the limelight. Maybe a dramatic loss of form, with Spencer the more likely candidate there, will propel Carter into the limelight.
If not, he will do bench time and John Mitchell has already shown this year that reserves don't necessarily get game time even in the free-flow modern era.
Take Carter's opening test season.
When Mauger had injury problems, Carter was a main man, scoring tries and kicking goals. Once Mauger returned, Carter's popeye biceps and blank expression were hardly sighted.
What might really help his cause at this stage is if he shows up as some kind of goalkicking genius. The All Blacks would kill for that.
His record was about 65 per cent in the Super 12, where he bungled a couple of vital shots in the final. He has been marginally better in the test arena.
Unlike the tricky Spencer, Carter is Canterbury cool.
Like Mauger, his game is built around efficiency, doing the basics really well, choosing the right options, then striking when the chance arises - rather than treating all the world as a stage.
So Carter is an option, but one Mitchell is unlikely to take on the big occasions.
Spencer showed his linebreaking class against the great English defence in Wellington this year and has remained in command since.
Mauger is a certified class act.
Carter's time will come, and patience is a virtue he seems to have plenty of.
