Carter confident of best form for Ireland clash

New Zealand playmaker Dan Carter believes putting the All Black jersey back on will bring the best out of him ahead of the season-opening Test against Ireland on Saturday.

Carter struggled to find his best form during the recently-completed Super 14 campaign as his Crusaders side bowed out at the semi-final stage for the second consecutive year.

The 28-year-old endured pockets of criticism for his performances, albeit during a season when he became just the second player to surpass 1,000 points in Super 14 rugby.

Carter is also just six points shy of achieving the same feat in Test rugby and with that milestone in sight he has warned he is fully focused ahead of the one-off Test with Ireland and two further Tests against Wales.

When asked about his form ahead of this weekend’s match with the Irish in New Plymouth, Carter admitted: “It has been a bit mixed to be honest but I have put all that behind me and putting on the All Blacks jersey now is something special.

“You have to take your game to a higher level no matter what has happened before that so I’m still extremely confident and am really excited to go out there and really get stuck in to direct this team and play my game.

“There is always that expectation, and it can be tough when they expect you right from the first game of the year to be absolutely firing.

“It is a long season and I am not concerned about what’s happened to date, I’m still confident in my abilities and, like I said, putting on the black jersey is a little bit special.

“I’m looking forward to that and I’m confident of turning things around and improving as the season goes on.

“With the limited pre-season we do get these days it is tough but my body feels really good and I feel the best I have probably all season so I’m looking forward to going out there and do the job.”

Should Carter score the six points he requires to reach the 1,000 mark he will be just the fourth player in Test history to do so behind Jonny Wilkinson, Neil Jenkins and Diego Dominguez.

“Obviously last year I didn’t reach that milestone but I have an opportunity again this week and if I get past the 1,000 mark I will be pretty happy but hopefully there will be plenty more to come,” he added.

The Crusaders’ exit at in the semi-finals allowed Carter an extra week of preparation ahead of the in-bound Tests with the Tri-Nations looming large in a month’s time.

The All Blacks also conducted a three-day camp in Auckland to finalise their plans for the upcoming Tests and Carter feels he and his team-mates are well prepared for a crucial campaign, with just 12 months to go before they host the World Cup.

“In the past it has been the Test week that you have been going through all these things and it can be challenging,” he added.

“We’ve put in a lot of hard work getting everyone up to speed and hopefully by this time of the week we have got all that content in and we can just concentrate on going out there and playing well now without all the little detail.”