Rugby: Carter guides Canterbury to victory

Daniel Carter scored all of Canterbury's 22 points against Auckland at Eden Park. Photo / Getty Images

Dan Carter accelerated his return to international duty by guiding Canterbury to a 22-16 Air NZ Cup rugby win over Auckland.

The first five-eighth contributed all his team's points in just his second first-class outing since suffering a serious Achilles injury in France six months ago.

The influential All Blacks pivot scored a decisive try 10 minutes from fulltime and for good measure he complemented his allround tactical kicking by adding five penalties and a conversion at Eden Park in Auckland.

Carter's try was an immediate riposte to Auckland's own five-pointer and came courtesy of a Tim Bateman surge which split the Auckland defence up the middle.

Centre Bateman did all the hard work before Carter loomed on his right shoulder to accept the pass and scamper the remaining 22m to the line.

Just moments earlier Auckland snuck into the lead for the only time when fullback Paul Williams scored after the home side strung several phases together for one of the few times in a largely lacklustre contest.

A series of second half substitutions worked a treat for Auckland after they found themselves 0-12 down following 50min of questionable effort.

Replacement first five-eighth Ash Moeke immediately set about chipping away at the deficit as he landed three penalties and he also added the icing to Williams' try.

But Carter responded with his own try then slotted his fifth penalty with 3min remaining on the clock as Canterbury got the result they wanted after dropping their opening match last week against North Harbour.

The first half was a tedious affair with a toothless Auckland fortunate to trail just 0-9 at the interval.

Three Carter penalties were all Canterbury had to show for their dominance of both territory and possession but at least they warmed to their work.

Auckland, by contrast, were seriously handicapped by a litany of errors and seldom posed any questions of the visitors.

The Auckland scrum, anchored by returning All Black prop John Afoa, encountered technical problems which were not ignored by referee Bryce Lawrence as a series of infringements gave Canterbury easy possession.

- NZPA