Carter ready for All Blacks return, says club coach

Canterbury coach Rob Penney is confident Dan Carter is ready to return to the New Zealand squad for the Tri Nations and Bledisloe Cup Test against Australia in Sydney in three weeks' time.

The Canterbury pivot showed no signs of a recurrence of the Achilles tendon problem that sidelined him for six months when playing the first 64 minutes for his province against North Harbour in the opening round of the Air New Zealand Cup last week.

"He grew nicely into the game and added a lot as his confidence grew," Penney said.

"He seems to have pulled up well and he is really positive on how he's backed up and how he's feeling.

"He's ready for an All Blacks call-up. He can lift to any level that is required and, yeah, he's ready to go whenever they need him."

Carter directed play confidently against North Harbour and his accurate goal-kicking kept Canterbury in the game.

Ironically, not long after Carter was benched, his replacement Stephen Brett missed a penalty kick which proved costly as the defending champions lost to North Harbour, 22-19.

Penney said that Carter was replaced because it was his "first hit-out for several months and we didn't want to burn him".

He added: "We've got quality people in the group and we want to utilise them so that was the primary reason."