KEY POINTS:
A less modest chap than Dan Carter would have had his chest puffed out after yesterday's World Cup opener against Italy.
The Italians were as modest as Carter for the first half at the Stade Velodrome, during which the damage was done, and the Canterbury man was as
influential a figure as any of his teammates in the events in that period.
His first shot at goal came after one minute, when captain Richie McCaw was invited to run unimpeded to the Italian line through a gaping hole in their defensive line. As the tries mounted, so Carter's deadeye left foot ensured maximum points. His first six shots never looked like missing. The seventh hit an upright and he finished with eight out of 10 for 17 points.
They took him past 650 test points, but it was not just the numbers which pointed to a master at work. He oozed confidence with the ball in hand, his line kicking was strong, and he showed a substantial part of his range of kicks in what at times could have passed for a master class in the No 10 arts.
The man himself admitted the looseness of the game was not entirely to his personal liking, and that made self assessment tricky.
"It's tough in those open games to get a real feel of how you played personally," he said yesterday. "It was quite open and I probably prefer closer, tighter competition. But in terms of getting out there and be back playing, it was a real relief, and I'm happy for that."
Carter said there had been an air of genuine excitement among the players in the days leading up to the match.
"We were really enthusiastic. There was a lot of energy this week. We really wanted to start well, do the basics well and things would flow from there. I think we did exactly that," he said. Dead right, six tries in the first 29 minutes killing the match as a contest at 43-0 and threatening to repeat the century of the 1999 tournament.
Carter hopes that is the hottest weather the All Blacks will experience during the tournament. If it was tough for most of the 56,000 broiling at the Marseille cauldron, it was harder for the players and what happened was testimony to their superb conditioning.
Forget the meek manner of the Italians for large parts of the match; the All Blacks' fitness was remarkable.
Those teams harbouring genuine cup title aspirations will have noticed that. They'll also have watched Carter closely yesterday. They might not have learned much they didn't already know about the 25-year-old. But they saw ample evidence that he's sharp and up for big campaign.
