Dylan Cleaver: Looking for the next perfect 10

In search of Dan Carter's heir apparent, the ITM Cup throws up three young possibilities. Photo / Mark Mitchell

It's time to start scratching a seven-year itch.

Since Daniel Carter made the No 10 jersey his own at the end of 2004, the search for an heir apparent has been long and largely fruitless.

Nick Evans came closest to establishing himself as a genuine world-class back-up, but he left post-'07 World Cup for a more lucrative life with the Harlequins of London having never fully felt the love of the national panel.

In the intervening years, Carter has for the most part held firm, while Stephen Donald, Luke McAlister, Mike Delany and Aaron Cruden have been given opportunities to start tests wearing the No 10.

It is a measure of how successful these "trials" have been that the selectors have opted, in a World Cup year, to nominate Colin Slade as their preferred back-up. This is based on a smattering of Super rugby games - many of them as a utility - and 20 minutes as replacement for Cruden in a Bledisloe Cup test.

It might be inspired. Slade has a skillset reminiscent of Andrew Mehrtens. Coming as he does off the Christchurch Boys' High School first five-eighths production line, Slade might be the second coming.

But if he flatters to deceive like those before him, the ITM Cup could provide the launching pad for New Zealand's Next Top First-Five.

Three players from New Zealand's recent under-20 world champions can expect significant game time in rugby's most pivotal position.

Gareth Anscombe, 20, the son of coach Mark, will aim to make that jersey his own for Auckland, effectively giving himself an eight-week trial for the 2012 Blues' jersey.

Another wanted by the Blues next year is Taranaki prodigy Beauden Barrett, 20, who is 17 days Anscombe's junior. He played fullback for the under-20s, but his best position is first-five eighths.

Barrett will make a decision in the coming days as to whether he stays with the Hurricanes, where he was a WTG player this year, or shifts north. For the time being he is charged with guiding Taranaki around the track in the Premiership.

His Super 15 decision could be tied to Aaron Cruden, who has shifted from the Hurricanes to the Chiefs, where he links with Manawatu mentor Dave Rennie. Although Cruden has been tried and came up short at international rugby, at 22 he is too young for the scrapheap. Unlike most here, he has already proven his ability at Super 15 level, albeit too fleetingly.

With Slade siphoned off to the All Blacks, Tyler Bleyendaal, 21, will get a shot with the Cantabs. Not immediately though, the 2010 under-20 world champion is injured so will cede the jersey to Tom Taylor, 22, son of Warwick.

(Just quietly, there's a kid at the CBHS production line named Fletcher Smith, just turned 16, who is said to "have the goods".)

The third member of the world champion under-20s backline to take charge of his side's backline fortunes this year is the hugely talented Lima Sopoaga, 20, at Wellington. His goalkicking might not have been the most reliable, but he looked far from overawed when stepping in for Slade at the Highlanders.

It's a deep talent pool. It doesn't guarantee success higher up the chain, but for the next two months there's no better showcase.