Dan Carter finds something Richie McCaw isn't good at - fetching water

All Blacks 1st-five Daniel Carter with captain/waterboy Richie McCaw, during the Pool C match between New Zealand and Tonga. Photo / Brett Phibbs

A squashed tee and an inability to tell a joke under pressure - Dan Carter has found something that "water-boy" Richie McCaw isn't good at.

McCaw found himself as perhaps the highest profile supplier of water and kicking tee in world rugby when a minor thigh injury ruled him out of the test against Tonga in Newcastle last weekend.

Carter, clearly, has high standards as far as the supply of the tee goes because although he kicked six of seven conversions at St James' Park, he was delighted to report that not everything his skipper did was of the required standard.

"There was a bit of banter there with Richie running the tee on," Carter said today. "He was pretty poor at it, to be honest. He dropped the tee a couple of times.

"I asked him to tell me a joke but he couldn't think of a joke. He was actually squashing my tee but he didn't know. What else did he do? Oh, he started talking rugby before I was kicking, so I'm pretty keen to get him back in the team rather than running water. It's probably the only thing he can't do, to be honest, being an incredible Superman that he is."

If the All Blacks are nervous about facing their World Cup nemesis, France, in a Cardiff quarter-final eight years after their last, disastrous, one, then they are not showing it.

Carter's demeanour was typical of the players' today. And, although he, along with McCaw and Tony Woodcock are the only current players from that team eight years ago, so much has happened since that they have barely given it a second thought.

Joe Moody ready to go

"It's not something we've talked about," Carter said. "Even personally, I haven't thought about it. There were only about three [current All Black] players on the field in that game. It's a new team, we're not looking at the past, we've moved on from that and we're excited by it."

In not looking any further than the French, the All Blacks, who have always felt they would face them in the quarters, feel they have the right team and preparation to do what the class of '07 couldn't.

They are well aware too that while France were very poor on attack against Ireland at the Millennium Stadium, there is no guarantee they will play the same way on Sunday morning.

"The French are a dangerous team to come up against and that's what makes it even more exciting. These are the challenges that we love," Carter said.

"I've played them enough to know how dangerous they are ... they're very unpredictable.
Form and momentum doesn't really count for a lot with the French. They can be poor one week and awesome the following week. They will be disappointed with the way they played against Ireland and that's a dangerous sign for us because one thing I have learned is that they love playing the All Blacks in big matches and this weekend is going to be exactly one of those.

"You only have to look at the last World Cup. They didn't have a lot of form in pool play but as soon as they hit the playoffs they flicked a switch and were a different team."

Asked about the enjoyment factor and how, despite this being his final World Cup after the disappointments of 2003 (semifinal loss to Australia), 2007 (quarter-final loss to France) and 2011 (groin injury before final pool game), he seems so relaxed, Carter replied: "It's been a big focus for me after a couple of years with frustration with my body and the fact that this is my last crack at it - it's all about enjoyment - that's why you play the game and sometimes you can forget that when you're going through tough periods with injury or form or whatever."

- Patrick McKendry in Swansea