KEY POINTS:
For much of their last march to World Cup glory, England's dominant first five-eighths Jonny Wilkinson felt tortured.
On a good day he could be brooding, so it was not surprising that he got more introspective as the pressure built on England, who carried the twin burdens of
favouritism and emulating the nation's 1966 global soccer triumph.
Signs of Wilkinson's angst seeped through his newspaper columns during the tournament and whenever he was interviewed he appeared to be wrestling with some significant demons.
But England's top points scorer was composed enough to dropkick England to an extra-time triumph, before injury cruelly ate into his career.
Wilkinson has played a handful of tests since 2003 and the 27-year-old missed both of England's opening World Cup matches because of a rolled ankle.
Understandably, his crown as the premier pivot in world rugby has slipped. There are advocates for Stephen Larkham, Ronan O'Gara, Juan Martin Hernandez or Frederick Michalak as a successor but for most, that player is Daniel Carter.
The 25-year-old All Black began his international career when Wilkinson was in his World Cup pomp but by the time the pair duelled during the Lions 2005 tour of New Zealand, Wilkinson was struggling with injury while Carter was on fire.
Little has changed. Certainly not about Carter. He remains in royal form and as phlegmatic as ever in contrast to the agonised persona Wilkinson used to portray.
"I'm having a great time, I enjoy it all," Carter said as he relaxed at the All Blacks' latest stop in Aix en Provence in the French countryside.
"For me this is completely different. I did not really know what to expect at the 2003 tournament, it was my first year as a professional football player and I was pretty overwhelmed by the whole situation and I guess I just tagged along at that World Cup.
"Whereas this one is something myself and most of the other guys have been building for for a few years."
This time Carter is one of the main All Black weapons in a team chockful of armoury.
He showed much of that arsenal in a 60-minute stint against Italy before he was pulled and is likely to be chosen again this week for the side's next game against Scotland at Murrayfield.
He wants to play and hankers to get some time against Romania in the final pool match because he believes consecutive games help the rhythm in his play.
Carter said he had never pushed that theory at the selectors, and he would take what schedule they felt was best for him and the All Blacks in their search for a first world title since 1987.
His policy was to respect every time he was chosen and he continued that line by talking up the challenge the Scots would deliver. There was no concern about the supposed inferior rivals the All Blacks had drawn in their pool. "It is not worrying us too much," he said. "We have got Scotland this week, who will be our toughest opponents in our pool so I am sure they will be pretty physical and that will be just what we need a couple of weeks out from the quarter-final."
The hope was that the All Blacks would make gradual progress from their matches while other sides like the Springboks, Wallabies, France and England were expending a great deal more mental energy in trying to qualify from their sections.
When he had a week off, as he did for the game against Portugal, Carter thought he worked much harder in training. That sort of respite always made him more excited about playing.
The bulk of the side which played Italy would probably turn out against Scotland and that selection continuity would help the task. The better the opposition the more Carter longed to play.
"I also think I play best when I have a few games under my belt," he said in assessing whether he needed to play Romania the week before the quarter-final.
"But it is all about creating depth within the squad as well so it might be just as important that others play in case people fall over later in the competition."
