Rugby: Carter content with form

Dan Carter is looking for a consistent run of games with the Crusaders. Photo / Getty

Dan Carter has no qualms about either his form or his position, providing the Crusaders continue a playoff streak that has spanned the course of his career.

Both Carter and the Crusaders faced questions in the first half of the campaign, as a side packed with senior All Blacks struggled to hit their stride.

While developments took a positive turn for both player and team on Friday night, when Carter helped his side to a 58-17 thumping of the Reds, the Crusaders still face a real battle to reach the Super Rugby playoffs.

The red-and-blacks have never finished outside the competition's top four with Carter in their ranks, and sitting at home watching the playoffs is hardly how he wants to spend his final season with the franchise.

But the Crusaders still have some ground to make up in their final four games, needing a fit and firing Carter more than ever.

"We've just got to go out there and win those and try to pick up bonus points where we can to stay in this playoff hunt," Carter said in Hamilton today, after delivering $10,000 worth of sports gear to Silverdale Normal School as part of a Healtheries promotion. "Anything can happen and we're still confident - we know that we've got the team to do it."

That certainly seemed the case last weekend, with Carter playing his best game of the season outside of an equally influential Colin Slade. The pair of playmakers shone in their distribution, running game and decision-making, vindicating coach Todd Blackadder's decision to keep together the combination.

And Carter is more than content lining up at second five for the time being, happy his skills as a pivot can translate one position further along the backline.

"Obviously my preference is the No10 jersey but I just want to do what's best for the Crusaders and, at the moment, that's me playing 12," he said. "Sladey's playing extremely well, and I'm just happy to be playing. Whatever position that is doesn't really bother me."

Indeed, a steady run of matches is Carter's main desire at this stage of the campaign, after an injury to his lower leg in the season opener saw him endure a spell on the sidelines. Carter has started eight of the Crusaders' 12 games, playing 665 minutes to Slade's 870, and he knows regular time on the field is required to reach top form.

But Carter felt that level wasn't far away, encouraged by what he produced on a personal level against the Reds. While the bye has hardly arrived at an ideal time in that regard, Carter was confident of being ready for a run-in that begins in Sydney next Saturday night.

"It feels like my form's been improving as the season's gone on," he said. "And to have a performance like [Friday's] was really pleasing. Obviously we've got the bye this weekend just to rest a few bumps and bruises but I'm just really enjoying being out there and getting plenty of game time."