Grant Fox - It was either Carter or Sopoaga

Dan Carter stepped up with a strong performance at Eden Park. Photo / Getty

World Cup selector Grant Fox has dropped a bombshell, apparently revealing the great No. 10 Dan Carter was no certainty for the tournament.

Carter - whose famous injury put him out of the All Blacks 2011 World Cup winning team mid-tournament - was in at least some jeopardy it seems.

Fox, interviewed by Andrew Mulligan on Radio Sport, indicated Colin Slade and Beauden Barrett were already pencilled in as quality first-five eighths who could play other positions.

Sopoaga was thrown in the deep end against South Africa in Johannesburg with the selectors mindful that the 2011 campaign had struck a huge hurdle when Carter, Slade and Aaron Cruden, fell to injury. That forced fourth choice Stephen Donald onto the field in the Eden Park final against France.

Radio Sport: Grant Fox on the All Blacks squad

Fox said some of the public debate had wrongly downgraded the specialist ability of Beauden Barrett and Colin Slade, who were viewed as prime No. 10 choices but with other important strings to their bow.

The World Cup replacement rules meant the selectors pieced the team together in a different way to other campaigns such as the Rugby Championship so including two dedicated No. 10s such as Carter and Sopoaga for the World Cup was not an option, Fox said.

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"Realistically it was probably more down to a choice of Lima v Daniel rather than the other two, who offered some versatility," Fox said.

"We've always considered Beauden Barrett and Colin Slade as five eighths...

"Lima demanded it (selection against South Africa) because of his form ...Daniel responded to that."

Carter began to fire in the dismantling of Australia at Eden Park and it now seems that only then did he confirm his place in the World Cup squad.