All Blacks: Don't forget Dan just yet

Photo / Paul Estcourt

The veteran All Black is still rated the premier No 10 but injuries and age mean he faces a long road to next year’s World Cup.

Dan Carter has ambitions to help the All Blacks win the 2015 World Cup, but his run of injuries since the 2011 edition and the ages of starting first-fives in the final-winning teams mean the odds are against him.

Carter turned 32 in March. Grant Fox was 25, Michael Lynagh 28, Joel Stransky 27, Stephen Larkham 25, Jonny Wilkinson 26, Butch James 28, Aaron Cruden 22 and Stephen Donald 27 when they guided their teams to the Webb Ellis Cup.

It's a crude statistic, which doesn't take into account variables like skill and fitness but, regardless, no one older than 28 has completed the feat.

Yes, Carter received a World Cup winners' medal at Eden Park almost three years ago but it came from a peripheral rather than integral role in the campaign after he tore his groin before he was due to captain the All Blacks for the first time against Canada in pool play. This time he wants to be directing the team at the end of the tournament rather than warming a seat in his No1s.

Carter has endured six significant injuries since the last World Cup, meaning he must be treated with care. His body now appears to be under more strain at peak fitness which is why he was labelled by All Blacks coach Steve Hansen as a "red-flag athlete".

He hasn't played for the All Blacks this year - he's hardly played at all - and will be left behind when they travel to Brisbane to meet the Wallabies next Saturday. Hansen is hopeful he'll start against the United States in Chicago early next month.

In the interests of preservation, the New Zealand Rugby Union gifted Carter a sabbatical after his 100th test cap at Twickenham last year when he hobbled off with an Achilles tendon complaint.

But how much preferential treatment does Carter deserve?

Beauden Barrett and Cruden have embedded themselves as the next generation of All Black No10s. But Carter is a player of such rare skill, he's been given licence to rehabilitate at whatever cost because of his impact.

"It's the selectors' job to pick the best players available to win test matches and he's one of the great players of all time," Hansen told Radio Sport this week. "If he's fit and free of injury, I think we will see he's still a great player."

No one has run the backline and shown such an array of first five-eighths skills in the history of All Blacks rugby, even following on from greats like Grant Fox and Andrew Mehrtens. Carter's ability to kick off both feet, fend, tackle, place kick, distribute, sidestep, find touch, swerve, grubber and pot goals is scarcely comparable to anyone, certainly in the professional era.

Who can forget the performance labelled 'The Perfect 10' in the second test against the Lions in Wellington in 2005? The selectors haven't. Carter produced the sort of heroics a child might conjure up against invisible opposition in the backyard, except the best of the Home Nations and Ireland were trying to stop him.

Carter's authority and intuition mean he'll always be trusted with the game plan under the Hansen regime, despite having played just 29 per cent or 955 minutes of the All Blacks' 41 tests since his World Cup injury.

In addition to Barrett and Cruden, the names Colin Slade, Tom Taylor and, unforgettably, Stephen Donald have donned the No10 jersey but, while Carter remains an active player, it feels like they're tenants waiting for the landlord to move back in.