KEY POINTS:
Dan Carter says he will have to hit the ground running for the Crusaders on Saturday night, following the splendid Super 14 rugby form of first five-eighth Stephen Brett.
Carter is one of six All Blacks returning to the Crusaders for their match against the Stormers at Jade Stadium after undertaking reconditioning work demanded by New Zealand coach Graham Henry.
The world class playmaker has been impressed by the form of 21-year-old Brett so far this season and said he would be a hard act to follow.
"He's definitely made the most of the opportunity to play a few games and that has been great to see," Carter told the Crusaders website.
"Stevie has stepped up and played with a lot of confidence. Tactically he's run the team extremely well, while also kicking the important goals."
Brett has been Carter's understudy at the Crusaders for the past two seasons and the All Black pivot takes some pride in his achievements.
"We go way back, Stevie and I, back to our Christchurch Boys' High School days, where he was a couple of years younger than me and we used to kick together a little bit," Carter said.
"He's always had the talent. What's been great has been to see how he's developed, especially over the last few weeks when he was really asked to step up. What we've seen this season is a player who is more than capable of performing in Super rugby, and that's great news for Stevie as well as for the Crusaders.
"He's only going to keep getting better."
Carter said the competition was good for him.
"Maybe it's put the pressure on me, but I can live with that," he said.
"We (the conditioning All Blacks) were always going to have to work hard to get our spots once we were able to play again, but the young guys who have been there in our place have done really well. They've put the onus on us all to come back in, match their standard, and raise it again. That's the way it should be. It's a healthy situation for the team."
Statistically, Brett has almost matched the lofty standards set by Carter.
He has notched 72 points from his six Super 14 matches at an average of 12 per game, only slightly down on Carter's 13.36 points per game.
Brett said his goalkicking performance had been helped by coach Robbie Deans, Canterbury's record point-scorer.
"Deansy has been working with me on my goalkicking for a while," Brett said.
"Thanks to him, I've changed my whole run up and it's worked well. I started the season hitting them better, getting a few more over and have just grown in confidence from there."
Brett is on the bench on Saturday night and said he was keen to play elsewhere in the backline now that Carter was back.
"Playing at 12 or at fullback wouldn't bother me," he said.
- NZPA
