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Dan Carter is for New Zealand rugby supporters a once in a lifetime (and a long lifetime at that) player.
In the All Blacks pantheon of greats he is there with Dave Gallaher, Bert Cooke, George Nepia, Bob Scott, Michael Jones, Colin Meads and Richie McCaw.
With McCaw and Carter playing together, the All Blacks have won over 90 percent of their Tests.
They have won a decade of Bledisloe Cups, numerous Tri Nations and The Rugby Championship tournaments, a couple of Grand Slam victories in the UK and, finally, after stuffing up in 2007, a Rugby World Cup title in 2011.
Carter was injured in the 2011 Rugby World Cup before the final. He has spent some time this year out injured. And he will miss the series against France that starts on Saturday night because of a damaged hand.
Carter is determined to be a part of the All Blacks side that defends its Rugby World Cup title in England in 2015.
He will be in his 30s then and given the run of injuries he has suffered in recent years, he will have to have some luck (on the injury side) to be still playing in 2015.
There are no doubts about his form, if he can get onto the field. He has virtually single-handedly won three recent Super Rugby matches for the spluttering Crusaders in the last month.
His problem will be getting a chance to show this form by avoiding injury.
In the meantime, the All Blacks are giving Aaron Cruden every chance of taking over from the great Carter when he steps away into the shadows.
Cruden replaced Carter for the 2011 Rugby World Cup semi-final against Australia and played splendidly. He drop-kicked a vital goal and generally held his own in a tough emotional and physical environment.
The only new caps in the All Blacks are Jeremy Thrush, an energetic second-rower and Ben Afeaki, a bulky and hard-running prop, both of whom are playing from the reserve bench.
A newish front row is being developed with Dan Coles taking over from Keven Mealamu (on the bench), Andrew Hore (part of the squad but not in the 22) and Tony Woodcock – like Hore, not on the bench but still, just, in the squad.
Sam Kane remains the number seven in the absence of Richie McCaw, even though he is not an automatic selection for the Chiefs.
With Aaron Smith playing at halfback and Tawera Kerr-Barlow as his reserve back-up, the All Black selectors have told Cruden he must run the backs.
The out-of-form Ma’a Nonu retains his spot at inside centre, a position of weakness right now in New Zealand rugby. The solution may well be to play Carter there when he comes back from injury.
Ben Smith, who has been a one-man band for the Highlanders, has become the Adam Ashley-Cooper of New Zealand rugby, the player who can fill in any of the back three positions with great skill and needs to be in the team somewhere in one of these positions.
My guess is that Ben Smith’s permanent position in the All Blacks will be at centre (like Ashley-Cooper for the Wallabies) when Conrad Smith, now in his 30s and getting concussion from time to time, has to retire.
Getting back to Cruden, the point is that he is an entirely different type of five-eighth from Carter. Carter’s great strength is his passing, his occasional charges at the line, terrific defence all around the field and his adroit kicking game.
Cruden is small and is a type of Indian rubber man-type player, rather like Alfie Langer.
Cruden is more of an attacking runner than Carter. He is also less polished in his passing and not as ruthless and relentless in his defence.
It will be interesting to see how the All Blacks adjust to Cruden’s less-involved game against France on Saturday night. The match will be shown on Fox Sports before the Reds vs British and Irish Lions game.
It will also be interesting to see how France plays. Les Bleus are generally a side that doesn’t travel well. But they do play well in New Zealand.
They gave the All Blacks an almighty fright in the 2011 Rugby World Cup final, even though they had lost two pool round matches before the final.
And the last time the All Blacks were defeated at Eden Park where this Test will be played was in 1996 when France scored ‘the try from the end of the earth’ in injury time, a thrilling ensemble break-out from their own try line that may be the greatest try in Test history.